EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD
In Feburary 2006, Luc Gerard and Gerardo LeA?n, comfortably ensconced on their office sofa, were able to take a quiet moment to reflect which was a rare treat these last few months. A US$15.8 million investment had been staring them in the eyes for a while.Within the context of their previous employers, this amount would not have sounded out of place or even material. But for the first time, the two partners were talking about playing with their "own" money.The stakes were significantly higher! A few months earlier, they had joined forces to launch one of the first private equity funds in Colombia. Luc originated the idea: After a globetrotting corporate career engineering and managing mergers and acquisitions for others, he could no longer resist the urge to do his own deals. With their reputations and extensive networks in the corporate world, it would be easy to find potential deals. But finding the funds was a different story; this was a reputation-based business and they had no real personal track records. They would have to start from scratch and rapidly establish one to have a chance of raising the money. One company that looked particularly interesting was EMI (Emergencias Medicas Integrales), a Colombian healthcare company providing emergency services at home. While it had a respected brand, strong operations and healthy finances, it was clearly undermanaged and presented great value-creation opportunities through product development and geographic expansion. A minor problem, however, was that they did not have the money to acquire the company, let alone fund new acquisitions. A last-minute co-investor had saved the day, but they now faced decision time. Was EMI the company that would help them unlock the safes of the local institutional investors they wanted for their private equity fund? Would they be able to generate enough value and visibility quickly through this deal and establish themselves as deal makers? How should they treat this unexpected external investment for the deal? Was this taking them in a very different direction from the intended fund vehicle? Learning objectives: Building and managing a brand globally in the healthcare industry; Developing a micro health insurance system in Latin America; Globalization of brands; Growth financing and management in a global context; Emerging countries globalization; Building a new private equity vehicle.
Swot Analysis of "EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD" written by Benoit Leleux, Bryony Jansen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Emi Luc facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial finance, Mergers & acquisitions and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Emi Luc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Emi Luc 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Emi Luc
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 Emi Luc
Strengths EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Emi Luc in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Emi Luc 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 Emi Luc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Emi Luc 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Emi Luc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Emi Luc 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Emi Luc is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Emi Luc is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Emi Luc 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Emi Luc 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.
Organizational Resilience of Emi Luc
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Emi Luc does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Emi Luc 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Emi Luc in the sector have low bargaining power. EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Emi Luc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Emi Luc has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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.
Weaknesses EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 Emi Luc has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Emi Luc 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Emi Luc 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. Emi Luc 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Emi Luc 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Emi Luc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Emi Luc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Emi Luc to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD, in the dynamic environment Emi Luc has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Emi Luc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Emi Luc supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Emi Luc vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD, it seems that the employees of Emi Luc 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Emi Luc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Emi Luc, firm in the HBR case study EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Emi Luc 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.
Opportunities EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD | 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Emi Luc 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Emi Luc can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Emi Luc can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Emi Luc 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Emi Luc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Emi Luc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Emi Luc to increase its market reach. Emi Luc 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Emi Luc 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 Emi Luc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Emi Luc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Emi Luc 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Emi Luc 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Emi Luc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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, Emi Luc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Emi Luc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Emi Luc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Emi Luc to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD case study. Emi Luc can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD are -
Increasing wage structure of Emi Luc
– 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 Emi Luc.
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. Emi Luc 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 Emi Luc.
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. Emi Luc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Emi Luc in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Emi Luc 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Emi Luc 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 Emi Luc 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.
Environmental challenges
– Emi Luc 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. Emi Luc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Emi Luc 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD .
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 Emi Luc 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Emi Luc 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 EMI: FOR THE TRACK RECORD 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 Emi Luc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.