"My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Communication
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee
Antar Al-Qawwee describes in vivid detail his first days on the job at his summer internship in Sales and Trading and reflects on the lessons he learned through careful observation. Among the lessons he identifies are (1) Speak up early and often; (2) Be flexible and adjust your style; (3) Fate favors the prepared; and (4) Be yourself. As important as these explicit lessons are, equally important are the skills of presence of mind, mindful self-awareness, and sensitive reading of people and situations that he demonstrates.
Swot Analysis of ""My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee" written by Elizabeth A. Powell, Antar Al-Qawwee includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Antar Qawwee facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emotional intelligence, Financial markets, Psychology and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Antar Qawwee, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Antar Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Antar Qawwee
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Antar Qawwee
Strengths "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Antar Qawwee in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Antar Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Antar Qawwee has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Antar Qawwee is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Antar Qawwee is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Antar Qawwee
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Antar Qawwee does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Antar Qawwee digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Antar Qawwee 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.
High brand equity
– Antar Qawwee has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Antar Qawwee to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Antar Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Antar Qawwee 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 Elizabeth A. Powell, Antar Al-Qawwee 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Antar Qawwee 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Antar Qawwee 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Antar Qawwee to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Antar Qawwee to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee are -
Need for greater diversity
– Antar Qawwee 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee HBR case study mentions - Antar Qawwee 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Antar Qawwee has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Antar Qawwee even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Antar Qawwee 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Antar Qawwee 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Antar Qawwee 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Antar Qawwee has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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 Antar Qawwee supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Antar Qawwee vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Antar Qawwee has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee, it seems that the employees of Antar Qawwee 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee, is just above the industry average. Antar Qawwee 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.
Opportunities "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee | 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Antar Qawwee 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. Antar Qawwee 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Antar Qawwee can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Antar Qawwee can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Antar Qawwee can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Antar Qawwee operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
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 Antar Qawwee in the consumer business. Now Antar Qawwee can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Antar Qawwee 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 Antar Qawwee 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 Antar Qawwee to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Antar Qawwee 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, "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Antar Qawwee can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Antar Qawwee 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Antar Qawwee 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 Communication segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Antar Qawwee can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Antar Qawwee is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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.
Threats "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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 Antar Qawwee in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Antar Qawwee 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.
Increasing wage structure of Antar Qawwee
– 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 Antar Qawwee.
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. Antar Qawwee 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.
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 Antar Qawwee.
Regulatory challenges
– Antar Qawwee 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 Communication industry regulations.
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.
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 Antar Qawwee business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Antar Qawwee is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Antar Qawwee needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Antar Qawwee with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Antar Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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 "My Summer Internship" by Antar Al-Qawwee 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 Antar Qawwee needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
