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Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?


Ten years after expanding abroad, Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei faces espionage accusations from the US government, a claim that has shut it out of most of the US market. Now the threat has started to hinder potential deals in Canada, a market it entered only four years ago. This is a market where it has gradually built a market presence with a strategic focus vital to its global research initiatives. Sean Yang, president of Huawei's Canadian operations, must now reaffirm the company's commitment to Canada and regain its customers' trust. This case focuses on the changing competitive landscape in the global and regional environment, and describes the constraints on and advantages of an emerging-markets multinational operating in developed markets. It can also be adopted for teaching external analysis, including PESTEL, five-forces, driving-forces and key success-factor analyses.

Authors :: Nikhil Celly, Mary Han, Penny Lau

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Emerging markets, Globalization, Government, Sales, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?" written by Nikhil Celly, Mary Han, Penny Lau includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Huawei Canada facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Globalization, Government, Sales, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Huawei Canada, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Huawei 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Huawei 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 Huawei Canada




Strengths Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Huawei Canada in Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? Harvard Business Review case study are -

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Huawei Canada digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Huawei Canada 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.

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Huawei Canada 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 Huawei Canada in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Learning organization

- Huawei 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 Huawei Canada is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Huawei 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.

Organizational Resilience of Huawei Canada

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Huawei Canada does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Huawei Canada has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Huawei 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Huawei Canada is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Analytics focus

– Huawei Canada is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Nikhil Celly, Mary Han, Penny Lau can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Huawei 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Huawei Canada 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Huawei Canada 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Huawei Canada in the sector have low bargaining power. Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Huawei Canada to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?, is just above the industry average. Huawei Canada 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Huawei Canada products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Huawei Canada needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei Canada has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Huawei 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Huawei Canada has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Huawei Canada, firm in the HBR case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?, 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Huawei 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. Huawei 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Huawei Canada is planning to shift buying processes online.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Huawei Canada 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei Canada 's lucrative customers.




Opportunities Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? | 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Huawei 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Huawei Canada to increase its market reach. Huawei 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Huawei Canada has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Huawei Canada to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? case study. Huawei Canada can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Manufacturing automation

– Huawei 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Huawei Canada 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Huawei Canada 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, Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Huawei Canada 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Huawei Canada is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Huawei Canada can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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.

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 Huawei Canada 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.

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. Huawei 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. Huawei 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.

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. Huawei Canada can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Huawei Canada 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.




Threats Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? are -

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 Huawei Canada in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Environmental challenges

– Huawei 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. Huawei Canada can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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.

Regulatory challenges

– Huawei Canada 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.

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 Huawei Canada.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Huawei 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Huawei 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? .

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Huawei Canada is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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. Huawei Canada needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Huawei Canada 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Huawei Canada 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.

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 Huawei Canada business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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. Huawei Canada can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei in Canada: Can It Become a Trusted Player? 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 Huawei Canada needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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