DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth
The case discusses the post-IPO strategies, opportunities and challenges for Swiss global trading company DKSH, the leading market expansion (MES) provider with a focus on Asia. DKSH was well positioned to capitalize on three key MES industry trends: 1) Asia as the growth market per se, driven by the thriving middle classes of the emerging economies, 2) growing inner-Asian trade, and 3) the tendency of companies to outsource, stemming from the continuing focus on core competencies. DKSH wanted to use the tailwind of its very successful IPO and its strong growth potential to forcefully extend its number one market position while staying focused on implementing a sharply defined strategy for growth. From a strategic point of view, the company had to address multiple key issues: optimizing its business portfolio; further developing and centralizing corporate-level core competencies; choosing the right level of strategic integration of its four business units; strengthening its service innovation capability; ensuring the right resource allocation to sustain the company's growth engine; and sustaining its strategic entrepreneurial leadership culture.
Swot Analysis of "DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth" written by Robert A. Burgelman, Martina Ludescher includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dksh Mes facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dksh Mes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dksh Mes 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dksh Mes
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 Dksh Mes
Strengths DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dksh Mes in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Dksh Mes is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Innovation driven organization
– Dksh Mes is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Dksh Mes is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dksh Mes 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dksh Mes in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dksh Mes 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.
Analytics focus
– Dksh Mes 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 Robert A. Burgelman, Martina Ludescher 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.
Organizational Resilience of Dksh Mes
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dksh Mes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Dksh Mes 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 Dksh Mes is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dksh Mes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dksh Mes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dksh Mes digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dksh Mes 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
– Dksh Mes 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 Dksh Mes in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth are -
Need for greater diversity
– Dksh Mes 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 Dksh Mes has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dksh Mes 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. Dksh Mes 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dksh Mes 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dksh Mes 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth HBR case study mentions - Dksh Mes 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dksh Mes is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Dksh Mes needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dksh Mes to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Dksh Mes is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 Dksh Mes 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth, in the dynamic environment Dksh Mes has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dksh Mes has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert A. Burgelman, Martina Ludescher suggests that, Dksh Mes 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.
Opportunities DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth | 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dksh Mes can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dksh Mes operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Dksh Mes 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dksh Mes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dksh Mes to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth case study. Dksh Mes can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dksh Mes 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dksh Mes to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dksh Mes 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, DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dksh Mes can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dksh Mes 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dksh Mes 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dksh Mes 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dksh Mes 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dksh Mes 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dksh Mes 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dksh Mes 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 Dksh Mes to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth are -
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
– Dksh Mes 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dksh Mes high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dksh Mes has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dksh Mes 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dksh Mes 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dksh Mes is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dksh Mes with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Dksh Mes 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. Dksh Mes can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dksh Mes 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dksh Mes 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.
Increasing wage structure of Dksh Mes
– 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 Dksh Mes.
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. Dksh Mes 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 DKSH in 2012: Preparing For Continued Rapid Growth 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 Dksh Mes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
