Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited
On December 20, 2008, Ontario's premier, Dalton McGuinty, and Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced their decision to provide $3 billion in interim loans to General Motors of Canada Limited. Due to the 2008 economic downturn and declining auto sales, the company had drawn from its cash reserves in an effort to maintain operations and, as a result, was facing insolvency. The automaker accounted for approximately 19,000 direct jobs in Ontario, and its collapse would mean a great economic loss for Canada. The provincial and federal governments needed to work together to support the company and, in doing so, also support Canada's economy during this financial downturn. Ontario's assistant deputy minister of Finance needed to determine the best way to proceed with the proposed financial plan, while also working with multiple governments and appeasing public opinion.
Swot Analysis of "Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited" written by Paul Boothe, Connor Lyons, David Zhang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ontario's Canada facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Manufacturing, Negotiations, Public relations, Recession, Reorganization and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ontario's Canada, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ontario's Canada
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 Ontario's Canada
Strengths Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ontario's Canada in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ontario's Canada to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ontario's Canada to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ontario's Canada is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ontario's Canada is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Ontario's Canada is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Ontario's Canada is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Ontario's Canada has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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
– Ontario's Canada is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ontario's Canada 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.
High brand equity
– Ontario's Canada has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ontario's Canada to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ontario's Canada 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
– Ontario's Canada has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ontario's Canada 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ontario's Canada in the sector have low bargaining power. Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ontario's Canada to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ontario's Canada 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ontario's Canada 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 - Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Ontario's Canada has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, it seems that the employees of Ontario's Canada 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, Ontario's Canada 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. Ontario's Canada 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ontario's Canada 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ontario's Canada is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited HBR case study mentions - Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ontario's Canada vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ontario's Canada has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are -
Manufacturing automation
– Ontario's Canada 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ontario's Canada is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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. Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada to increase its market reach. Ontario's Canada 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.
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. Ontario's Canada 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. Ontario's Canada 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ontario's Canada 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ontario's Canada can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ontario's Canada 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.
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 Ontario's Canada in the consumer business. Now Ontario's Canada can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ontario's Canada has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ontario's Canada to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study. Ontario's Canada can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ontario's Canada to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Ontario's Canada 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.
Threats Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are -
Increasing wage structure of Ontario's Canada
– 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 Ontario's Canada.
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 Ontario's Canada.
Environmental challenges
– Ontario's Canada 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. Ontario's Canada can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ontario's Canada has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ontario's Canada 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ontario's Canada with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ontario's Canada 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ontario's Canada is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Ontario's Canada in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline 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. Ontario's Canada needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ontario's Canada 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Ontario's Canada needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.