Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL
This two-part case revolves around a mandate given by Ganesh Purandare, head of the financial services business unit at SDL, a growing software development company, to Mohua Sen, head of recruitment for the division, whereby he asks her to reduce recruitment times. For SDL, each lateral hire is done against a billable opportunity. Hence, timely or early fulfilment is critical not only to ensuring project deliverables but also for addressing the immediate billability question. Part A: Mohua Sen examines the entire process timelines and considers the feasibility of reducing recruitment times. The principles of business process re-engineering are used to study the problem of process cycle time reduction. Students are asked to provide possible solutions.
Swot Analysis of "Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL" written by Debolina Dutta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sdl Mohua facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sdl Mohua, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sdl Mohua 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sdl Mohua
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 Sdl Mohua
Strengths Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sdl Mohua in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sdl Mohua is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sdl Mohua to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sdl Mohua to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sdl Mohua is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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.
Analytics focus
– Sdl Mohua 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 Debolina Dutta can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High brand equity
– Sdl Mohua has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sdl Mohua to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Sdl Mohua 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 Sdl Mohua is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sdl Mohua in the sector have low bargaining power. Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sdl Mohua to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sdl Mohua 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sdl Mohua 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Sdl Mohua is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sdl Mohua has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sdl Mohua 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.
Weaknesses Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sdl Mohua 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sdl Mohua is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sdl Mohua 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL, in the dynamic environment Sdl Mohua has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sdl Mohua has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sdl Mohua products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sdl Mohua needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Sdl Mohua 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Sdl Mohua supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sdl Mohua vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sdl Mohua 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL HBR case study mentions - Sdl Mohua 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 Sdl Mohua is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sdl Mohua needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sdl Mohua to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL | 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sdl Mohua 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 Sdl Mohua 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sdl Mohua 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sdl Mohua 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sdl Mohua 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sdl Mohua can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sdl Mohua 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sdl Mohua to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sdl Mohua to increase its market reach. Sdl Mohua 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
– Sdl Mohua 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Sdl Mohua can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sdl Mohua 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 Sdl Mohua to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Sdl Mohua in the consumer business. Now Sdl Mohua 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, Sdl Mohua can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sdl Mohua operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sdl Mohua 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sdl Mohua 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.
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. Sdl Mohua needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Sdl Mohua
– 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 Sdl Mohua.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sdl Mohua 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.
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 Sdl Mohua in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sdl Mohua 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sdl Mohua 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
– Sdl Mohua has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sdl Mohua 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.
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 Sdl Mohua.
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.
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 Sdl Mohua business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Recruiting Faster: (A) Process Innovation at SDL 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 Sdl Mohua needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
