Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm
Compares the management of professionals at Egon Zehnder International, a leading executive search firm, and its competitors. Highlights recruitment, rewards, and retention as key dimensions of strategy in professional service firms.
Swot Analysis of "Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm" written by Pankaj Ghemawat includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Egon Zehnder facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Human resource management, Managing people and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Egon Zehnder, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Egon Zehnder 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Egon Zehnder
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 Egon Zehnder
Strengths Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Egon Zehnder in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Egon Zehnder has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Egon Zehnder to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Egon Zehnder has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Egon Zehnder 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Egon Zehnder is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Egon Zehnder 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 Egon Zehnder is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Egon Zehnder is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Egon Zehnder 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 Pankaj Ghemawat 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Egon Zehnder in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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.
Organizational Resilience of Egon Zehnder
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Egon Zehnder does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Egon Zehnder is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Egon Zehnder 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm - 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
– Egon Zehnder has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Egon Zehnder 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. Egon Zehnder 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Egon Zehnder 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Egon Zehnder, firm in the HBR case study Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Egon Zehnder products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Egon Zehnder needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Egon Zehnder 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 - Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Egon Zehnder has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Egon Zehnder 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm, it seems that the employees of Egon Zehnder 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Egon Zehnder 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.
Opportunities Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm | 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Egon Zehnder to increase its market reach. Egon Zehnder 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Egon Zehnder 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Egon Zehnder 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, Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Egon Zehnder 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Egon Zehnder 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.
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 Egon Zehnder in the consumer business. Now Egon Zehnder can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Egon Zehnder can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Egon Zehnder operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Egon Zehnder can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Egon Zehnder can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Egon Zehnder 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.
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 Egon Zehnder 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Egon Zehnder 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Egon Zehnder has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Egon Zehnder to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm case study. Egon Zehnder can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Egon Zehnder 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Egon Zehnder with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Egon Zehnder 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.
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. Egon Zehnder 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.
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. Egon Zehnder can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Egon Zehnder 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.
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 Egon Zehnder.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Egon Zehnder 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.
Increasing wage structure of Egon Zehnder
– 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 Egon Zehnder.
Environmental challenges
– Egon Zehnder 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. Egon Zehnder 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. Egon Zehnder needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder International: Managing Professionals in an Executive Search Firm 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 Egon Zehnder needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
