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Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm


The Academy for Professional Development (APD) was launched in 1993, shortly after Perestroika and the turbulent time of Soviet disintegration. With the support of the Soros Foundation and a local Ministry of Privatization, APD became the most prestigious professional business education and consulting firm in the country. Assembling and training a "team of talents" is always difficult, more so in this case because of the nature of local business practices, the proliferation of professional service firms competing for business and state-director clientele, and the lure of opportunities in more stable environments. As APD gained experience in business education and consulting, different directors implemented new programs and brought different styles of management. As the organization experiences turnover of its professional staff, its founder and Chairman of the Board is concerned about the role he should take as the organization matures.

Authors :: Yuliya V. Ivanova, Joan Winn

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Employee retention, Growth strategy, International business, Leadership transitions, Talent management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm" written by Yuliya V. Ivanova, Joan Winn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Apd Professional facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Employee retention, Growth strategy, International business, Leadership transitions, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Apd Professional, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Apd Professional 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Apd Professional
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 Apd Professional




Strengths Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Apd Professional in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Apd Professional 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 Apd Professional in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Innovation driven organization

– Apd Professional is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Apd Professional digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Apd Professional 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.

Training and development

– Apd Professional has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Apd Professional in the sector have low bargaining power. Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Apd Professional to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Apd Professional 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management

– Apd Professional is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Apd Professional is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Apd Professional in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Apd Professional are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Apd Professional 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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.






Weaknesses Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm are -

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm, it seems that the employees of Apd Professional 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Apd Professional 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Apd Professional 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 - Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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 Apd Professional supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Apd Professional vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Apd Professional is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Apd Professional 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Apd Professional 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Apd Professional 's lucrative customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Apd Professional needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yuliya V. Ivanova, Joan Winn suggests that, Apd Professional is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.




Opportunities Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm are -

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Apd Professional 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, Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Apd Professional 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Apd Professional 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 Apd Professional can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Apd Professional 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Apd Professional is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Apd Professional 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 Apd Professional 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.

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. Apd Professional can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Apd Professional can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Apd Professional to increase its market reach. Apd Professional 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 Apd Professional has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Apd Professional to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm case study. Apd Professional can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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. Apd Professional can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.




Threats Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm are -

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. Apd Professional 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Apd Professional is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Apd Professional

– 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 Apd Professional.

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. Apd Professional needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Apd Professional in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm, Apd Professional 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 .

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Apd Professional can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services Firm .

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Apd Professional 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Apd Professional with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Apd Professional has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Apd Professional 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.

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. Apd Professional can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Apd Professional 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Governance and Talent Management in a Professional Services 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 Apd Professional needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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