CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry
This FocusCase describes how a female CEO from Belgium is trying to change the business models in the HR industry with the two companies she set up. The first company is an "offline" HR consulting company, while the second one is an innovative spin-off from her first venture and Internet-based. The case decribes how difficult it was for her to attract venture capital, but how she finally succeeds. But more importantly, she runs into a significant problem with her Board and needs to find a solution to break the deadlock. Various strategic scenarios are laid out, including the change of investors, the sale of one or the other or even both companies. Many financial, strategic, operational, but also emotional dimensions play into this decision.
Authors :: Marc Sosna, Dave Darsch, Julia Prats Moreno
Swot Analysis of "CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry" written by Marc Sosna, Dave Darsch, Julia Prats Moreno includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Offline Hr facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Financial management, Human resource management and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Offline Hr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Offline Hr 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Offline Hr
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 Offline Hr
Strengths CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Offline Hr in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Offline Hr 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Offline Hr in the sector have low bargaining power. CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Offline Hr to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Offline Hr has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Offline Hr 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Offline Hr to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Offline Hr to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Offline Hr 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Offline Hr 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 Offline Hr is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Offline Hr 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 Offline Hr in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Offline Hr 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
– Offline Hr 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 Marc Sosna, Dave Darsch, Julia Prats Moreno 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Offline Hr is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Offline Hr is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Offline Hr
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Offline Hr does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry, is just above the industry average. Offline Hr 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Offline Hr 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Offline Hr 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry, in the dynamic environment Offline Hr has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Offline Hr has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 Offline Hr 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Offline Hr 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. Offline Hr 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Offline Hr 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 - CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Offline Hr 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Offline Hr products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Offline Hr needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry, it seems that the employees of Offline Hr 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.
Opportunities CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry | 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Offline Hr 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, CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Offline Hr 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Offline Hr 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Offline Hr to increase its market reach. Offline Hr will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Offline Hr is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Offline Hr 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 Offline Hr to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Offline Hr 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Offline Hr 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Offline Hr 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Offline Hr can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Offline Hr can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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.
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 Offline Hr 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Offline Hr 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.
Threats CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry are -
Increasing wage structure of Offline Hr
– 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 Offline Hr.
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. Offline Hr 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Offline Hr 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Offline Hr with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Offline Hr 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Offline Hr 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.
Environmental challenges
– Offline Hr 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. Offline Hr can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Offline Hr business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Offline Hr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Offline Hr 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Offline Hr 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Offline Hr is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 CVWarehouse (A): Offline-and Online-Adventures in the Recruitment Industry 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 Offline Hr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.