Case Study Description of Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative
Deloitte Dads is a firm-sponsored diversity and inclusion initiative aimed at supporting working fathers within Deloitte (Canada) LLP, an independent member of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited global network. With support from senior management, Deloitte Dads was founded in 2010 by a junior consultant in the management consulting division in the company's Greater Toronto Area office and quickly gained both members and media attention. The group not only had to be distinctly separate from other parenting initiatives already in place but had to negotiate with the company's performance management practices, which historically had not considered flexibility in appraising employees. In 2013, the founder was wondering not only if the group could be rolled out to other divisions within the company across the country and perhaps across the world but also how best to handle its success while managing his own career and the demands of being a father of two small children. He had mastered the quarterly events within his office, but how could he create a formal governance model? Already working 80 to 90 hours per week, with no end in sight, how was he going to make Deloitte Dads sustainable and successful?
Swot Analysis of "Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative" written by Alison Konrad, Amy Shuh includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Deloitte Dads facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Diversity, Gender, Human resource management, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Deloitte Dads, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Deloitte Dads 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Deloitte Dads
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 Deloitte Dads
Strengths Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Deloitte Dads in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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.
Learning organization
- Deloitte Dads 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 Deloitte Dads is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Deloitte Dads is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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
– Deloitte Dads 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Deloitte Dads 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Deloitte Dads 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Deloitte Dads to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Deloitte Dads to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Deloitte Dads is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Deloitte Dads is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Deloitte Dads 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 Deloitte Dads in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Deloitte Dads has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Deloitte Dads 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Deloitte Dads in the sector have low bargaining power. Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Deloitte Dads to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Deloitte Dads is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Deloitte Dads 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative, is just above the industry average. Deloitte Dads 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Deloitte Dads 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Deloitte Dads 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.
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 Deloitte Dads supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Deloitte Dads vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Deloitte Dads 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 - Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Deloitte Dads is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Deloitte Dads has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Deloitte Dads 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. Deloitte Dads 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative, in the dynamic environment Deloitte Dads has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Deloitte Dads has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative | 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Deloitte Dads 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.
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. Deloitte Dads can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Deloitte Dads 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.
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 Deloitte Dads 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Deloitte Dads can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Deloitte Dads operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Deloitte Dads to increase its market reach. Deloitte Dads 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Deloitte Dads 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Deloitte Dads 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, Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Deloitte Dads 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.
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. Deloitte Dads 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. Deloitte Dads 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Deloitte Dads can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Deloitte Dads can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Deloitte Dads 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.
Threats Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative are -
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 Deloitte Dads in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Deloitte Dads is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Deloitte Dads 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Deloitte Dads with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Deloitte Dads has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Deloitte Dads 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 wage structure of Deloitte Dads
– 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 Deloitte Dads.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Deloitte Dads 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.
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 Deloitte Dads.
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 Deloitte Dads business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Deloitte Dads can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Deloitte Dads 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Deloitte Dads demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Consulting GTA: The Deloitte Dads Initiative 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 Deloitte Dads needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
