Case Study Description of "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE
Rohan Patel was looking at the building site outside the window of his third-floor office in Westlands, the upmarket business district of Nairobi, Kenya. Although the construction work would be finished in a few weeks' time, it had taken a total of 18 months to complete and was seriously behind schedule. In early 2009, time was definitely money for Rohan's family firm, Grenadier Limited. The building was to be the first of a chain of contemporary five star hotels catering to the needs of business travelers in urban centers in Africa.The chain would be the latest addition to Grenadier's portfolio. Rohan hoped it would not be plagued by the occupancy problems that Larsens Camp was experiencing - one of the three properties that made up Wilderness Lodges, the company's other luxury hospitality business. The tourist trade in Kenya had been hit by the double whammy of political violence followed by the credit crunch and global recession, both of which had been nothing short of disastrous for the hospitality business. The tourism crisis, in turn, led to a renewal of public debate around the sustainable management of Kenya's natural resources. Some operators saw an opportunity to push for a relaxation of existing rules for establishing hotels and resorts in and around nature reserves, which would create new jobs and increase tax revenues for the state and local councils. However, nature preservationists and environmental NGOs wanted to protect the animal sanctuaries and the local communities that often lost their ancestors' lands to the nature reserves without getting much in return. In addition to getting the new venture off the ground and taking the risk of stepping on the toes of established players, Rohan needed to tackle these other challenges: How could the group rebuild a value proposition for tourists and restore occupancy rates at Larsens Camp? What was the best way to restructure the company to ensure financial stability? How could it find the proper balance between its business and the environment, thus ensuring the future of its resorts? Learning objectives: The case discusses various issues including social responsibility in the context of a hospitality business in Kenya's Samburu Nature Reserve; the heritage of the Indian diaspora in East Africa and its business activities and modus operandi; the transition of a third-generation family member who returns from Europe to join the family business; and sustainability management of the family's sprawling business empire. The case also provides an original setting for the discussion of stakeholder management (the bush).
Swot Analysis of ""LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE" written by Benoit Leleux, Aoife Hegarty includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Larsens Rohan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, 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, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Larsens Rohan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Larsens Rohan 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Larsens Rohan
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 Larsens Rohan
Strengths "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Larsens Rohan in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Larsens Rohan digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Larsens Rohan 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.
Training and development
– Larsens Rohan has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Larsens Rohan 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 Larsens Rohan in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Larsens Rohan is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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
– Larsens Rohan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Larsens Rohan 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Larsens Rohan 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 Benoit Leleux, Aoife Hegarty 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
– Larsens Rohan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Larsens Rohan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Larsens Rohan 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Larsens Rohan in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Larsens Rohan 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 Larsens Rohan is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Larsens Rohan is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Larsens Rohan 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 - "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE, in the dynamic environment Larsens Rohan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Larsens Rohan 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 Larsens Rohan 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Benoit Leleux, Aoife Hegarty suggests that, Larsens Rohan 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE HBR case study mentions - Larsens Rohan 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Larsens Rohan 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Larsens Rohan 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE, it seems that the employees of Larsens Rohan 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Larsens Rohan 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Larsens Rohan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Larsens Rohan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Larsens Rohan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Larsens Rohan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE | 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Larsens Rohan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Larsens Rohan 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. Larsens Rohan 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Larsens Rohan 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Larsens Rohan can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Larsens Rohan operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Larsens Rohan 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Larsens Rohan 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 Larsens Rohan 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Larsens Rohan 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Larsens Rohan in the consumer business. Now Larsens Rohan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Larsens Rohan 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 Larsens Rohan to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Larsens Rohan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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.
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 Larsens Rohan 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.
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. Larsens Rohan can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Larsens Rohan 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.
Threats "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE are -
Regulatory challenges
– Larsens Rohan 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Larsens Rohan 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. Larsens Rohan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Larsens Rohan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE, Larsens Rohan may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Larsens Rohan 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Larsens Rohan 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Larsens Rohan with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Larsens Rohan business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Larsens Rohan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Larsens Rohan needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Larsens Rohan 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Larsens Rohan 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE .
Increasing wage structure of Larsens Rohan
– 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 Larsens Rohan.
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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 "LARSENS CAMP: CRISIS IN KENYA'S ELEPHANT PARADISE 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 Larsens Rohan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
