A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products
When students have the English-language PDF of this Brief Case in a coursepack, they will also have the option to purchase an audio version.Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360A? performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division of Landon Care Products, which has recently been acquired by a European beauty company. Sander is leading the launch of a European skin care product into the U.S. market, which requires working with a multinational product development team. Sander's interactions with peers and direct reports in the case paint a picture of a tough, inflexible high achiever who uses temper as a management tool. At the end of the day, Sander's supervisor Sam Glass will provide Sander with 360A? performance feedback-the first time this process has been used at Landon. Sander remains skeptical about the value of the process and feedback, and of a long-term fit with the organization. On the other hand, Glass has a very high personal interest in keeping Sander at the company, but wonders how the organization can best develop and manage this star performer.
Swot Analysis of "A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products" written by Elizabeth Collins, Larry E. Greiner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sander Landon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Conflict, Difficult conversations, Informal leadership, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational culture, Product development, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sander Landon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sander Landon
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 Sander Landon
Strengths A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sander Landon in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Sander Landon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sander Landon is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Sander Landon 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 Elizabeth Collins, Larry E. Greiner 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sander Landon 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sander Landon 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 Sander Landon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Sander Landon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sander Landon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sander Landon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sander Landon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sander Landon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sander Landon has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Innovation driven organization
– Sander Landon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sander Landon products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sander Landon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 Sander Landon has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, it seems that the employees of Sander Landon 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, in the dynamic environment Sander Landon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sander Landon has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sander Landon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sander Landon 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, Elizabeth Collins, Larry E. Greiner suggests that, Sander Landon 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sander Landon, firm in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sander Landon 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. Sander Landon 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products HBR case study mentions - Sander Landon 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.
Opportunities A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products | 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sander Landon 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, A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Sander Landon 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sander Landon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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.
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. Sander Landon can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sander Landon to increase its market reach. Sander Landon 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sander Landon 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sander Landon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sander Landon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sander Landon can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sander Landon 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sander Landon 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sander Landon can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Sander Landon in the consumer business. Now Sander Landon can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Sander Landon 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.
Threats A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products are -
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. Sander Landon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Sander Landon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Sander Landon 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.
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 Sander Landon.
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. Sander Landon 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sander Landon 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Sander Landon 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Sander Landon 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. Sander Landon can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products .
Increasing wage structure of Sander Landon
– 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 Sander Landon.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 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 Sander Landon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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