Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom
Describes a major organizational transformation process at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom, and the events leading up to the first deal since its introduction. Raises questions of leadership, organizational design, and organizational change.
Swot Analysis of "Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom" written by John J. Gabarro, Samantha K. Graff includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ernst Kingdom facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Organizational structure, Reorganization and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ernst Kingdom, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ernst Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ernst Kingdom
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 Ernst Kingdom
Strengths Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ernst Kingdom in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ernst Kingdom to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ernst Kingdom to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Ernst Kingdom is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Ernst Kingdom has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ernst Kingdom to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Ernst Kingdom 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 John J. Gabarro, Samantha K. Graff 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ernst Kingdom has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ernst Kingdom 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ernst Kingdom digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ernst Kingdom 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ernst Kingdom
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ernst Kingdom does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Ernst Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ernst Kingdom is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Ernst Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Ernst Kingdom is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ernst Kingdom 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.
Weaknesses Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom, is just above the industry average. Ernst Kingdom needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ernst Kingdom products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ernst Kingdom needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ernst Kingdom, firm in the HBR case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ernst Kingdom 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ernst Kingdom 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom, it seems that the employees of Ernst Kingdom 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ernst Kingdom is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ernst Kingdom 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ernst Kingdom is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom, in the dynamic environment Ernst Kingdom has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ernst Kingdom has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom | 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ernst Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ernst Kingdom can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ernst Kingdom 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ernst Kingdom can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ernst Kingdom operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Ernst Kingdom 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. Ernst Kingdom 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ernst Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom in the consumer business. Now Ernst Kingdom can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ernst Kingdom to increase its market reach. Ernst Kingdom 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ernst Kingdom has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ernst Kingdom to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom case study. Ernst Kingdom can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Ernst Kingdom 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ernst Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ernst Kingdom to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Ernst Kingdom 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ernst Kingdom is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom are -
Regulatory challenges
– Ernst Kingdom 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.
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 Ernst Kingdom in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ernst Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom, Ernst Kingdom 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ernst Kingdom with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Ernst Kingdom can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ernst Kingdom is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ernst Kingdom has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ernst Kingdom 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.
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. Ernst Kingdom needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Ernst Kingdom business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Ernst Kingdom 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. Ernst Kingdom can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Transformation at Ernst & Young, United Kingdom 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 Ernst Kingdom needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.