Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First
The case follows the progress of a year-long multi-module 'Make a Difference' programme for all 70 employees of Best Western Italy, the European operations and reservations centre for Best Western International, a global hotel group. The programme is designed to help individuals explore their own personal and professional goals, and then to work together to redesign the mission and vision of their organization. The objective is to unlock organizational energy, and to enhance trust and communication across all hierarchical levels. The outcomes included a restructuring of the senior executive level to create a flatter organization with more distributed leadership; improvement in the Great Places to Work Institute Italia ranking; and six company-wide projects initiated by employees. The case describes not only the programme design, but the necessary precursors for successful implementation, including organizational readiness for change and the skills and experience required of the coaches. It poses the question: How can this level of organizational change and renewal be sustained over time? Please visit the dedicated case website http://cases.insead.edu/best-western-italy to access video interviews and other support material.
Authors :: Elizabeth Florent-Treacy, Massimiliano Saccarelli, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries
Swot Analysis of "Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First" written by Elizabeth Florent-Treacy, Massimiliano Saccarelli, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Programme Western facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Leadership development and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Programme Western, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Programme Western 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Programme Western
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 Programme Western
Strengths Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Programme Western in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Programme Western 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 Programme Western
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Programme Western does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Programme Western 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Programme Western is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Programme Western to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Programme Western to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Programme Western 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 Elizabeth Florent-Treacy, Massimiliano Saccarelli, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Programme Western 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 Programme Western in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Programme Western 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Programme Western has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Programme Western 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Programme Western is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Programme Western in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First HBR case study mentions - Programme Western takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Programme Western is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Programme Western needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Programme Western to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Programme Western has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Programme Western is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Programme Western 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Programme Western 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Programme Western 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Programme Western 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. Programme Western 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Programme Western products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Programme Western needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Programme Western 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 - Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Programme Western, firm in the HBR case study Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First | 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First are -
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. Programme Western can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Programme Western 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Programme Western can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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.
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. Programme Western 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. Programme Western 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Programme Western can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Programme Western 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 Programme Western to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Programme Western 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Programme Western to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Programme Western can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Programme Western can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Programme Western 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Programme Western 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Programme Western 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, Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Programme Western is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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.
Threats Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First are -
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. Programme Western needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Programme Western 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 Programme Western business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Programme Western 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Programme Western is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Programme Western.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Programme Western 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Programme Western 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.
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. Programme Western will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First, Programme Western 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 .
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Programme Western 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Best Western Italy (B): Creating an Authentizotic Organization by Putting People First 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 Programme Western needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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