Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century
This case investigates both micro and macro issues around strategic human capital development. First, it explores how Egon Zehnder, a leading global search and advisory firm, assesses talent in the firms for which it works. The case discusses the deployment of a unique potential model that substantially shifts how the company views individuals. Within this framework, Mary Caroline Tillman, the case protagonist, is faced with an evaluation decision between two candidates who have different competencies, past experience and potential. Second, the case also explores the macro issues of running a professional services firm. The case presents an opportunity to examine how and if the organization can change its focus to include more assessment opportunities.
Swot Analysis of "Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century" written by Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tillman Caroline facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Leadership development, Motivating people, Performance measurement, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tillman Caroline, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tillman Caroline 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tillman Caroline
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 Tillman Caroline
Strengths Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tillman Caroline in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tillman Caroline is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tillman Caroline 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.
Analytics focus
– Tillman Caroline 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 Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tillman Caroline to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tillman Caroline to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Tillman Caroline 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 Tillman Caroline is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Tillman Caroline
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tillman Caroline does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tillman Caroline digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tillman Caroline 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tillman Caroline is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tillman Caroline 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tillman Caroline has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tillman Caroline 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tillman Caroline is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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.
Weaknesses Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century are -
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 Tillman Caroline supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tillman Caroline vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tillman Caroline 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats suggests that, Tillman Caroline is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tillman Caroline 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tillman Caroline 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Tillman Caroline has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century, it seems that the employees of Tillman Caroline 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Tillman Caroline 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tillman Caroline 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. Tillman Caroline 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tillman Caroline, firm in the HBR case study Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tillman Caroline is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century | 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century are -
Loyalty marketing
– Tillman Caroline 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.
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. Tillman Caroline 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. Tillman Caroline 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tillman Caroline 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tillman Caroline to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Tillman Caroline 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.
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. Tillman Caroline can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tillman Caroline 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tillman Caroline has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tillman Caroline to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century case study. Tillman Caroline can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tillman Caroline 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, Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tillman Caroline 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tillman Caroline 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 Tillman Caroline to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tillman Caroline 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tillman Caroline 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 Tillman Caroline in the consumer business. Now Tillman Caroline can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century are -
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 Tillman Caroline.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tillman Caroline 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
– Tillman Caroline 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.
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. Tillman Caroline 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century, Tillman Caroline 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tillman Caroline 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.
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. Tillman Caroline needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Tillman Caroline business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tillman Caroline 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Tillman Caroline 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.
Increasing wage structure of Tillman Caroline
– 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 Tillman Caroline.
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 Tillman Caroline in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century 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 Tillman Caroline needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.