WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
Charged with growing annual revenues by US$10 million over the next five years (2012-2017), half of which was to come from Latin America, Doug Quackenbos, head of global business development at Walter Meier Manufacturing Inc. had undertaken extensive market research to identify the best new international market opportunities for Walter Meier's JET brand of industrial products and metalworking and woodworking machinery.Specifically he identified Brazil as an attractive new market for expansion. Success would hinge on developing the right market-entry strategy. To that end, four foreign market entry options were identified: 1) Greenfield company-owned distribution strategy; 2) Partner with a Brazilian master distributor; 3) Acquire or form a joint venture (JV) with a Brazilian tool distributor; 4) Acquire or form a joint venture with a Brazilian tool manufacturer. Quackenbos would have to sell a strategic vision for growth that was not resource-intensive - a challenge for a mid-size player in a market filled with a range of regional and national competitors. Based on what he was about to propose, and against the backdrop of a soft, recessionary global industrial economic environment, Walter Meier's executive team would question the merits of expanding into new emerging markets, the attractiveness of Latin America, and specifically the advantages of entering Brazil. The case provides background information on the company and the metal and woodworking machinery markets and competition in each of them. Walter Meier's international expansion aspirations are described, and the process for identifying Brazil as a new market for expansion is explained. The case concludes with the trigger issue of which foreign market entry mode will work best for Walter Meier in Brazil. A supplemental 10-minute video interview is also available. The video captures Doug Quackenbos's views on the international business development opportunities and challenges for a medium-size company, how he gathers market intelligence and manages uncertainty, and what he foresees for Walter Meier in Latin America and Brazil. Learning objectives: (1) Foreign market attractiveness, in particular the pursuit of opportunistic growth strategies; (2) Challenges medium size companies in business-to-business markets face when seeking growth internationally; (3) Opportunities and threats in entering emerging "BRIC" markets; (4) Evaluation of foreign market entry modes; (5) Securing distribution in new international markets.
Swot Analysis of "WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION" written by Martin Roth, Dominique Turpin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Walter Meier facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Walter Meier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Walter Meier
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 Walter Meier
Strengths WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Walter Meier in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Walter Meier in the sector have low bargaining power. WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Walter Meier to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Walter Meier has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Walter Meier has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Learning organization
- Walter Meier 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 Walter Meier is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Walter Meier to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Walter Meier to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Walter Meier has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Walter Meier is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Walter Meier 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Walter Meier is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Walter Meier 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.
High brand equity
– Walter Meier has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Walter Meier to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Walter Meier products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Walter Meier needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Walter Meier 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Martin Roth, Dominique Turpin suggests that, Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION HBR case study mentions - Walter Meier 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Walter Meier 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 Walter Meier is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Walter Meier needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION, in the dynamic environment Walter Meier has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Walter Meier has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Walter Meier 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. Walter Meier 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Walter Meier is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Walter Meier is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION | 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Walter Meier can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Walter Meier operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Walter Meier 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, WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Walter Meier can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Walter Meier 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.
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. Walter Meier 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. Walter Meier 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Walter Meier is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Walter Meier 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Walter Meier 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.
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 Walter Meier in the consumer business. Now Walter Meier 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 Walter Meier 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 Walter Meier to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Walter Meier can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Walter Meier 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Walter Meier to increase its market reach. Walter Meier 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.
Threats WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION are -
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.
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. Walter Meier can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Walter Meier has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Walter Meier 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Walter Meier 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Walter Meier with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Walter Meier in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Walter Meier 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.
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 Walter Meier.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Walter Meier 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.
Environmental challenges
– Walter Meier 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. Walter Meier can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Walter Meier 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Walter Meier 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 Walter Meier is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 WALTER MEIER: JET INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION 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 Walter Meier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
