!Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community
!Xaus Lodge is a community owned tourism facility in the Kagaladi Transfrontier Park, built to settle post-apartheid claims related to land seizures. The revival of the facility by Transfrontier Parks Destinations, a for-profit firm that also seeks to create a positive social impact, is the focus of the case.
Authors :: Saifed Mohamad Fakhreddin, Stephen J. Mezias
Swot Analysis of "!Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community" written by Saifed Mohamad Fakhreddin, Stephen J. Mezias includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Transfrontier Xaus facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Transfrontier Xaus, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Transfrontier Xaus operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Transfrontier Xaus
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Transfrontier Xaus
Strengths !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Transfrontier Xaus in !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Transfrontier Xaus in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Transfrontier Xaus is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Transfrontier Xaus is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Transfrontier Xaus in the sector have low bargaining power. !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Transfrontier Xaus to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Transfrontier Xaus to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Transfrontier Xaus to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Transfrontier Xaus
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Transfrontier Xaus does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Transfrontier Xaus has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Transfrontier Xaus has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Transfrontier Xaus is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Saifed Mohamad Fakhreddin, Stephen J. Mezias can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Transfrontier Xaus digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Transfrontier Xaus has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Transfrontier Xaus is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Transfrontier Xaus has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Transfrontier Xaus to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Transfrontier Xaus has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community are -
Need for greater diversity
– Transfrontier Xaus has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Transfrontier Xaus supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Transfrontier Xaus vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Transfrontier Xaus has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community, is just above the industry average. Transfrontier Xaus needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Transfrontier Xaus has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Transfrontier Xaus is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Transfrontier Xaus needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Transfrontier Xaus to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community, in the dynamic environment Transfrontier Xaus has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Transfrontier Xaus has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Transfrontier Xaus has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community HBR case study mentions - Transfrontier Xaus takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Saifed Mohamad Fakhreddin, Stephen J. Mezias suggests that, Transfrontier Xaus is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Opportunities !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community are -
Loyalty marketing
– Transfrontier Xaus has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Transfrontier Xaus can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Transfrontier Xaus to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Transfrontier Xaus can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Transfrontier Xaus can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Transfrontier Xaus in the consumer business. Now Transfrontier Xaus can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Transfrontier Xaus has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Transfrontier Xaus to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community case study. Transfrontier Xaus can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Transfrontier Xaus can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Transfrontier Xaus to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Transfrontier Xaus to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Transfrontier Xaus has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Transfrontier Xaus to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Transfrontier Xaus to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Transfrontier Xaus can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Transfrontier Xaus can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Manufacturing automation
– Transfrontier Xaus can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Transfrontier Xaus demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Transfrontier Xaus high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Transfrontier Xaus can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Transfrontier Xaus needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Transfrontier Xaus
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Transfrontier Xaus.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Transfrontier Xaus will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Transfrontier Xaus can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Transfrontier Xaus.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Transfrontier Xaus has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Transfrontier Xaus needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Transfrontier Xaus with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Transfrontier Xaus can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community .
Regulatory challenges
– Transfrontier Xaus needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of !Xaus Lodge: From White Elephant to the Heart of the Community is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Transfrontier Xaus needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
