Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future
Cervus Equipment Corporation has grown its business substantially over the past 10 years through regional acquisitions and strong organic growth. The company was founded to manage and consolidate farm equipment dealerships in western Canada but, in partnership with original equipment manufacturers, has branched into the construction equipment and long haul trucking manufacturing industries and has moved into New Zealand and Australia. The board of directors is now looking for the new chief executive officer (CEO) to chart an innovative growth strategy that will see the company triple in size over the next five years. The market fundamentals to support this growth are quite strong and realistic; however, the growth opportunities in the company's traditional Canadian markets are not sufficient and its customers' requirements are being driven to new levels of complexity due to a technology revolution happening within the industry. At the same time, its experience overseas has ultimately provided an opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the differences in international markets and new cultures. The CEO needs to come up with a growth plan that puts Cervus Equipment into non-traditional markets or new industries while addressing the changes happening in the industry. Daniel Doiron is affiliated with University of New Brunswick Saint John. Davis Schryer is affiliated with Cervus Equipment Corporation.
Swot Analysis of "Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future" written by Daniel Doiron, Davis Schryer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cervus Equipment facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cervus Equipment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cervus Equipment 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cervus Equipment
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 Cervus Equipment
Strengths Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cervus Equipment in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cervus Equipment digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cervus Equipment 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.
High brand equity
– Cervus Equipment has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cervus Equipment to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cervus Equipment 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cervus Equipment is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Cervus Equipment is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cervus Equipment in the sector have low bargaining power. Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cervus Equipment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Cervus Equipment 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 Daniel Doiron, Davis Schryer 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.
Learning organization
- Cervus Equipment 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 Cervus Equipment is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cervus Equipment is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cervus Equipment has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cervus Equipment 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cervus Equipment in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Cervus Equipment has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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.
Weaknesses Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cervus Equipment is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Cervus Equipment needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cervus Equipment to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Cervus Equipment supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cervus Equipment vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future 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 Cervus Equipment has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cervus Equipment, firm in the HBR case study Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cervus Equipment needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Daniel Doiron, Davis Schryer suggests that, Cervus Equipment 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cervus Equipment 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cervus Equipment is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cervus Equipment products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cervus Equipment needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Cervus Equipment 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future, it seems that the employees of Cervus Equipment 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.
Opportunities Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cervus Equipment 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cervus Equipment can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cervus Equipment 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.
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. Cervus Equipment 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. Cervus Equipment 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cervus Equipment 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cervus Equipment 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 Cervus Equipment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cervus Equipment is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cervus Equipment can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cervus Equipment 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, Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cervus Equipment 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.
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 Cervus Equipment in the consumer business. Now Cervus Equipment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cervus Equipment to increase its market reach. Cervus Equipment 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.
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. Cervus Equipment can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future 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 Cervus Equipment in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Cervus Equipment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Cervus Equipment needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cervus Equipment is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cervus Equipment 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New Future .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cervus Equipment 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cervus Equipment 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.
Increasing wage structure of Cervus Equipment
– 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 Cervus Equipment.
Regulatory challenges
– Cervus Equipment 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.
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. Cervus Equipment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cervus Equipment 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment Corporation: Harvesting a New 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 Cervus Equipment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
