Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole
The Gazi B case focuses on two issues: First, it provides a bottom-up perspective on each of Gazi's main lines of business, namely, the Avis/Budget car rental and other vehicle and leasing businesses, in-bound tourism, outbound tourism and ticketing, conference and event business, and cruise ship landings. Detailed plans are presented for each of these business lines and can be contrasted with plans and figures presented in the A case which provided a top-down perspective. The two perspectives remain far apart. Gazi's top-down vision is to have overall company revenues of a??100 million within five years; bottom-up estimates range from a??50 million overall downwards. The case invites a debate of how to reconcile these two disparate perspectives. It allows students to understand that the real issue behind these disparate growth goals is to decide first and foremost on the overall corporate business definition and scope, and whether the previous pattern of continuous diversification is sustainable in the long run. Also worth debating is whether Gazi's focus on top line revenue growth, and on employee projections, should not be tempered by a parallel concern for the bottom line, for example profitability. The second in the B case is to decide on a possible brand name to replace Albanian Experience for the incoming tourism and conference business. This existing brand's credibility and utility has been overtaken by a substantial de-facto expansion of tourism destinations to include virtually all of the Balkan area, Greece to the south and parts of Italy to the north, as well as destinations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Although the corporate scope and focus issue and the branding issue appear to be separate, they are of course related. A new brand name must be found which if possible reflects the overall business scope as well as the new tourist sources, destinations, and USPs.
Swot Analysis of "Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole" written by Derek F. Abell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gazi's Tourism facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Entrepreneurship, Financial analysis, Leadership, Leadership development, Organizational structure, Risk management, Succession planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gazi's Tourism, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gazi's Tourism 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gazi's Tourism
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 Gazi's Tourism
Strengths Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gazi's Tourism in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Gazi's Tourism are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gazi's Tourism has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gazi's Tourism in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gazi's Tourism digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gazi's Tourism 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 lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Gazi's Tourism is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Gazi's Tourism in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Gazi's Tourism has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gazi's Tourism has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gazi's Tourism 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gazi's Tourism is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Gazi's Tourism is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Gazi's Tourism is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Gazi's Tourism 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 Derek F. Abell 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.
Weaknesses Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gazi's Tourism 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gazi's Tourism 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 - Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gazi's Tourism is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole, it seems that the employees of Gazi's Tourism don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gazi's Tourism has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gazi's Tourism needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole HBR case study mentions - Gazi's Tourism 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 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 Gazi's Tourism supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gazi's Tourism vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Gazi's Tourism is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Gazi's Tourism needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gazi's Tourism to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Gazi's Tourism, firm in the HBR case study Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole | 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Gazi's Tourism can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gazi's Tourism can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gazi's Tourism operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gazi's Tourism is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gazi's Tourism 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.
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 Gazi's Tourism in the consumer business. Now Gazi's Tourism can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Gazi's Tourism 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gazi's Tourism to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Gazi's Tourism can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Gazi's Tourism 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gazi's Tourism can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
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. Gazi's Tourism can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gazi's Tourism 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 Gazi's Tourism to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole are -
Environmental challenges
– Gazi's Tourism needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Gazi's Tourism can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
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. Gazi's Tourism can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gazi's Tourism 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.
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, Gazi's Tourism 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gazi's Tourism with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Gazi's Tourism is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
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. Gazi's Tourism needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Gazi's Tourism in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Gazi's Tourism 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Gazi's Tourism business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole 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 Gazi (B): Bringing the sum of the parts together with the whole 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 Gazi's Tourism needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
