The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future
In 2008, the chairman of the Zuellig Family Foundation and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Philippines, asked the foundation's president to take up the challenge of providing health care for the poor of the Philippines. The foundation's president was particularly struck by the health inequities between the urban rich and the rural poor. The rich had a life expectancy above 80 and the poor below 60; the maternal mortality ratio was 15 among the rich but over 150 among the poor. The foundation's president had spent much of his career working to bridge fundamental divides within Philippine society. Within four years, he led the foundation to complete a health care program with remarkable success in selected areas of the country, which transformed the inert and broken health care system into a living, thinking, intelligent network of stakeholders. A dignitary praised the program and asked the foundation's president to roll out the program country-wide. Could the foundation succeed with such a broad undertaking while preserving the efficacy, soul, and sustainability of the program? Audrey Chia is affiliated with National University of Singapore.
Authors :: Audrey Chia, Mavis McAllister
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future" written by Audrey Chia, Mavis McAllister includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Foundation's Zuellig facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Foundation's Zuellig, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Foundation's Zuellig 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Foundation's Zuellig
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 Foundation's Zuellig
Strengths The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Foundation's Zuellig in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Foundation's Zuellig 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Foundation's Zuellig is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Foundation's Zuellig has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Foundation's Zuellig in the sector have low bargaining power. The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Foundation's Zuellig to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Foundation's Zuellig has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Foundation's Zuellig digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Foundation's Zuellig to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Foundation's Zuellig to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Foundation's Zuellig in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Foundation's Zuellig 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 Foundation's Zuellig is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future HBR case study mentions - Foundation's Zuellig 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 Foundation's Zuellig supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Foundation's Zuellig vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Foundation's Zuellig 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Foundation's Zuellig 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, Foundation's Zuellig is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 Foundation's Zuellig 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future, is just above the industry average. Foundation's Zuellig 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Foundation's Zuellig, firm in the HBR case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Foundation's Zuellig 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. Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Opportunities The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future | 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Foundation's Zuellig has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Foundation's Zuellig to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future case study. Foundation's Zuellig can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Foundation's Zuellig can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Foundation's Zuellig is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Foundation's Zuellig 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.
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. Foundation's Zuellig can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Foundation's Zuellig can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Foundation's Zuellig operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Foundation's Zuellig to increase its market reach. Foundation's Zuellig 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.
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 Foundation's Zuellig in the consumer business. Now Foundation's Zuellig can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Foundation's Zuellig to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Foundation's Zuellig 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.
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 Foundation's Zuellig in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future, Foundation's Zuellig 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Foundation's Zuellig 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future .
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. Foundation's Zuellig can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Foundation's Zuellig 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.
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 Foundation's Zuellig business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Foundation's Zuellig has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Foundation's Zuellig 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.
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 Foundation's Zuellig.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Foundation's Zuellig is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 The Zuellig Family Foundation: A Bridge to a Better Future 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 Foundation's Zuellig needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
