Case Study Description of GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B)
Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) has proved successful at GE. Yet, when Michael McIlwrath, new counsel at an Italian subsidiary, attempted to translate it to his company, problems arose. He had to gain internal acceptance, and explain the concept of early mediation to a European culture not accustomed to the practice. This case examines the successes and challenges of translating an American dispute resolution program to an overseas context and explores four studies of litigation cases facing McIlwrath.
Swot Analysis of "GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B)" written by Michael A. Wheeler, Gillian Morris includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mcilwrath Dispute facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Regulation, Reorganization, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mcilwrath Dispute, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mcilwrath Dispute 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mcilwrath Dispute
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 Mcilwrath Dispute
Strengths GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mcilwrath Dispute in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Analytics focus
– Mcilwrath Dispute 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 Michael A. Wheeler, Gillian Morris 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 brand equity
– Mcilwrath Dispute has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mcilwrath Dispute to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mcilwrath Dispute is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mcilwrath Dispute has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mcilwrath Dispute in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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.
Training and development
– Mcilwrath Dispute has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Learning organization
- Mcilwrath Dispute 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 Mcilwrath Dispute is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Mcilwrath Dispute is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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
– Mcilwrath Dispute is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), is just above the industry average. Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), it seems that the employees of Mcilwrath Dispute 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 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 Mcilwrath Dispute supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mcilwrath Dispute vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) HBR case study mentions - Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mcilwrath Dispute is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Mcilwrath Dispute needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mcilwrath Dispute to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mcilwrath Dispute is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mcilwrath Dispute is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), in the dynamic environment Mcilwrath Dispute has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mcilwrath Dispute has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mcilwrath Dispute 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 - GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) | 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mcilwrath Dispute in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mcilwrath Dispute is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mcilwrath Dispute can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mcilwrath Dispute operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mcilwrath Dispute can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Mcilwrath Dispute 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
– Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute 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. Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Mcilwrath Dispute can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mcilwrath Dispute 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, GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mcilwrath Dispute has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute 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 Mcilwrath Dispute.
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. Mcilwrath Dispute 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B), Mcilwrath Dispute may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Mcilwrath Dispute in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mcilwrath Dispute in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mcilwrath Dispute 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mcilwrath Dispute 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) .
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 Mcilwrath Dispute business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Mcilwrath Dispute
– 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 Mcilwrath Dispute.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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 GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B) 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 Mcilwrath Dispute needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.