Case Study Description of Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C)
In November 1996, the board of directors of Thailand's Siam Cement Group approves a policy spelling out the extent to which code of ethics shall be applied in joint venture and contractor relationships.
Swot Analysis of "Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C)" written by Lynn Sharp Paine, Prompilai Khunaphante includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Siam Cement facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Emerging markets, Ethics, Joint ventures, Managing people, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Siam Cement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Siam Cement
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Siam Cement
Strengths Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Siam Cement in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Siam Cement is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Siam Cement is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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.
Learning organization
- Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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
– Siam Cement has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 brand equity
– Siam Cement has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Siam Cement to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Siam Cement to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Siam Cement to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Siam Cement
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Siam Cement does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Siam Cement in the sector have low bargaining power. Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Siam Cement to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Siam Cement is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Siam Cement digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Siam Cement 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.
Weaknesses Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Siam Cement 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. Siam Cement 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Siam Cement is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Siam Cement needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Siam Cement to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) HBR case study mentions - Siam Cement 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Siam Cement 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynn Sharp Paine, Prompilai Khunaphante suggests that, Siam Cement is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Siam Cement, firm in the HBR case study Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Siam Cement 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Siam Cement 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Siam Cement 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Siam Cement 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 - Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) | 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Siam Cement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Siam Cement in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Siam Cement 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. Siam Cement 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Siam Cement 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, Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Siam Cement has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Siam Cement to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) case study. Siam Cement can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Siam Cement can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Siam Cement 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Siam Cement can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Siam Cement 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.
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. Siam Cement can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Siam Cement can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Siam Cement operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Siam Cement 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. Siam Cement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Siam Cement can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Siam Cement business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Siam Cement
– 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 Siam Cement.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Siam Cement 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, Siam Cement 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) .
Environmental challenges
– Siam Cement 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. Siam Cement can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Siam Cement is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Siam Cement in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Siam Cement in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement Group: Corporate Philosophy (C) 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 Siam Cement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
