Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations
From its beginning in 1947, the Torvald Klaveness Group succeeded in the shipping business through innovation and the vision of one man, Torvald "TK" Klaveness. The company grew and prospered until 1989, when TK handed the reins over to the second generation. His eldest son remained true to his father's principals and business philosophy. As yet another management transition drew closer, the next generation considered changes to the founder's succession plan and the company's strategic approach.
Swot Analysis of "Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations" written by John L. Ward, Colleen Lief includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Klaveness Torvald facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Klaveness Torvald, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Klaveness Torvald
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 Klaveness Torvald
Strengths Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Klaveness Torvald in Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Klaveness Torvald is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Klaveness Torvald
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Klaveness Torvald does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Klaveness Torvald 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 Klaveness Torvald in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Klaveness Torvald has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Klaveness Torvald to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Klaveness Torvald 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Klaveness Torvald is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Klaveness Torvald 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
– Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Klaveness Torvald to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Klaveness Torvald to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Klaveness Torvald in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations, it seems that the employees of Klaveness Torvald 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Klaveness Torvald 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. Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations HBR case study mentions - Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations, is just above the industry average. Klaveness Torvald 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Klaveness Torvald, firm in the HBR case study Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Klaveness Torvald is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Klaveness Torvald needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Klaveness Torvald to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Klaveness Torvald has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Klaveness Torvald supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Klaveness Torvald vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John L. Ward, Colleen Lief suggests that, Klaveness Torvald 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Klaveness Torvald 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Klaveness Torvald 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations | 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations are -
Loyalty marketing
– Klaveness Torvald 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Klaveness Torvald to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Klaveness Torvald 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.
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. Klaveness Torvald can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Klaveness Torvald can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Klaveness Torvald 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, Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Klaveness Torvald can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Klaveness Torvald operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Klaveness Torvald has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Klaveness Torvald to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations case study. Klaveness Torvald can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Klaveness Torvald 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Klaveness Torvald 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Klaveness Torvald can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Klaveness Torvald 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. Klaveness Torvald 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Klaveness Torvald is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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.
Threats Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations, Klaveness Torvald 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Klaveness Torvald is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Klaveness Torvald.
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. Klaveness Torvald 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Klaveness Torvald has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Klaveness Torvald 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 Klaveness Torvald
– 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 Klaveness Torvald.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Klaveness Torvald 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations .
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 Klaveness Torvald 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 Klaveness Torvald 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.
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. Klaveness Torvald 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
– Klaveness Torvald 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Klaveness Torvald high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Torvald Klaveness Group: From Old Traditions to Future Innovations 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 Klaveness Torvald needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
