Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way
In 1982, Fadi Ghandour founded Aramex, a leading provider of logistics and transportation solutions with headquarters in Amman, Jordan. From its early inception, Ghandour strategically included principles and practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in the company's culture in order to align business interests and competence with stakeholders' needs. The community and environment were regarded as key stakeholders driving Aramex to act as a responsible citizen. Since its inception, Aramex had been involved in sustainability activities grouped into six primary areas: education and youth empowerment; community development; entrepreneurship; sports; environment; and emergency relief. Committed to growth and opening new offices globally, Aramex faced the challenge of preserving CSR as an integral part of its expansion strategy. In late January 2011, Ghandour and Hattar began brainstorming ways to address the need to harmonize CSR and sustainability values and practices across operations and ensure that sustainability principles were firmly institutionalized across branches and subsidiaries. Dima Jamali is affiliated with American University of Beirut. Cedric Dawkins is affiliated with Dalhousie Univ.
Swot Analysis of "Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way" written by Dima Jamali, Cedric Dawkins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aramex Ghandour facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aramex Ghandour, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aramex Ghandour 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aramex Ghandour
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 Aramex Ghandour
Strengths Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aramex Ghandour in Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Aramex Ghandour 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 Aramex Ghandour in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Aramex Ghandour 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Aramex Ghandour is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Aramex Ghandour 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.
Organizational Resilience of Aramex Ghandour
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Aramex Ghandour does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Aramex Ghandour has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Aramex Ghandour to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aramex Ghandour digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aramex Ghandour 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Aramex Ghandour is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Aramex Ghandour in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Aramex Ghandour in the sector have low bargaining power. Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aramex Ghandour to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Aramex Ghandour to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Aramex Ghandour to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aramex Ghandour, firm in the HBR case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way HBR case study mentions - Aramex Ghandour 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way, is just above the industry average. Aramex Ghandour 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Aramex Ghandour 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Aramex Ghandour 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 - Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Aramex Ghandour 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way, in the dynamic environment Aramex Ghandour has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aramex Ghandour has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Aramex Ghandour is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Aramex Ghandour needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Aramex Ghandour to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aramex Ghandour is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Aramex Ghandour 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aramex Ghandour is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way | 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aramex Ghandour 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Aramex Ghandour 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aramex Ghandour is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Aramex Ghandour 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Aramex Ghandour can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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.
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. Aramex Ghandour can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Aramex Ghandour has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aramex Ghandour to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way case study. Aramex Ghandour can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Aramex Ghandour 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. Aramex Ghandour 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Aramex Ghandour 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, Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Aramex Ghandour 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aramex Ghandour to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Aramex Ghandour can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Aramex Ghandour operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Aramex Ghandour 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aramex Ghandour 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.
Threats Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aramex Ghandour is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Aramex Ghandour 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Aramex Ghandour with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Aramex Ghandour in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aramex Ghandour 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.
Increasing wage structure of Aramex Ghandour
– 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 Aramex Ghandour.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Aramex Ghandour 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.
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. Aramex Ghandour 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.
Environmental challenges
– Aramex Ghandour 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. Aramex Ghandour can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Aramex Ghandour.
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 Aramex Ghandour business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way, Aramex Ghandour 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Sustainability in the Arab World: The Aramex Way 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 Aramex Ghandour needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
