Case Study Description of Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management
Fleet Management is the second largest spending in the humanitarian sector, preceded by staffing. Aware of the fact and concerned for the increased need for efficiency, a group of humanitarian professionals manage to raise awareness in their community and bring to the discussion table the members of the different organizations concerned. The turnout is unexpected, the willingness to improve is high, yet the challenge remains how to bring about change in a sector that is so fragemented, without control or command, and where fleet management has long been viewed as the job of those people "with grease under their nails".
Authors :: Rolando Tomasini, Luk Van Wassenhove, Gillian Khaw
Swot Analysis of "Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management" written by Rolando Tomasini, Luk Van Wassenhove, Gillian Khaw includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Humanitarian Fleet facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management casestudy better are - – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Humanitarian Fleet, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Humanitarian Fleet 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Humanitarian Fleet
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 Humanitarian Fleet
Strengths Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Humanitarian Fleet in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Humanitarian Fleet is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Humanitarian Fleet has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Humanitarian Fleet is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Humanitarian Fleet in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Humanitarian Fleet in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Humanitarian Fleet
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Humanitarian Fleet does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Humanitarian Fleet in the sector have low bargaining power. Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Humanitarian Fleet to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Humanitarian Fleet 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 Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Humanitarian Fleet has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Humanitarian Fleet to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Humanitarian Fleet to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Humanitarian Fleet has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Humanitarian Fleet to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Humanitarian Fleet products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Humanitarian Fleet needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management HBR case study mentions - Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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 Humanitarian Fleet supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Humanitarian Fleet vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Humanitarian Fleet 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Humanitarian Fleet 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Humanitarian Fleet has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Humanitarian Fleet, firm in the HBR case study Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Humanitarian Fleet 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. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Humanitarian Fleet has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Humanitarian Fleet 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 - Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management | 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Humanitarian Fleet is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Humanitarian Fleet 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, Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management, 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
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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. Humanitarian Fleet can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Humanitarian Fleet to increase its market reach. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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. Humanitarian Fleet can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Humanitarian Fleet can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Humanitarian Fleet to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Humanitarian Fleet to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Threats Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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 Humanitarian Fleet.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Humanitarian Fleet with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Humanitarian Fleet has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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.
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. Humanitarian Fleet needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Humanitarian Fleet 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. Humanitarian Fleet can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Increasing wage structure of Humanitarian Fleet
– 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 Humanitarian Fleet.
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 Humanitarian Fleet in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Humanitarian Fleet can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Humanitarian Fleet 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Fleet Forum: Rethinking Humanitarian Vehicle Management 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 Humanitarian Fleet needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
