Case Study Description of A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives
In 2012, Bill Allen and Maria Pejter, of Maersk Group's Human Resources Department, sat down to consider some key aspects of Maersk's talent management strategy. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Maersk was a global conglomerate with large shipping and oil & gas businesses. Among the talent management issues being discussed: an increase an employee turnover; internal training and development programs; hiring experienced talent from outside the firm; rehiring former employees ("boomerangs"); and increasing employee diversity.
Swot Analysis of "A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives" written by Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maersk Talent facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Collaboration, Developing employees, Diversity, Employee retention, Hiring, Organizational structure, Risk management, Strategy execution, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maersk Talent, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maersk Talent 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maersk Talent
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 Maersk Talent
Strengths A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maersk Talent in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Maersk Talent 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 Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maersk Talent 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Maersk Talent is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Maersk Talent is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Maersk Talent in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Maersk Talent 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Maersk Talent in the sector have low bargaining power. A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maersk Talent to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Maersk Talent is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Maersk Talent 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Maersk Talent is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Maersk Talent has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Maersk Talent to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Maersk Talent 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Maersk Talent 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Maersk Talent is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Maersk Talent needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Maersk Talent to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott suggests that, Maersk Talent 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Maersk Talent 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Maersk Talent 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maersk Talent has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Maersk Talent is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 Maersk Talent 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives, it seems that the employees of Maersk Talent 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives HBR case study mentions - Maersk Talent 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.
Opportunities A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives | 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives are -
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 Maersk Talent in the consumer business. Now Maersk Talent can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Maersk Talent can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Maersk Talent 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Maersk Talent can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maersk Talent 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 Maersk Talent to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Maersk Talent 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Maersk Talent has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Maersk Talent to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives case study. Maersk Talent can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Maersk Talent can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maersk Talent 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Maersk Talent 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Maersk Talent 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, A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maersk Talent 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maersk Talent to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Maersk Talent 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.
Threats A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Maersk Talent 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.
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. Maersk Talent needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Maersk Talent 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Maersk Talent with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives, Maersk Talent 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maersk Talent is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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
– Maersk Talent 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.
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 Maersk Talent business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Maersk Talent in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Maersk Talent 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.
Increasing wage structure of Maersk Talent
– 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 Maersk Talent.
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. Maersk Talent 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 A.P. Moller - Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives 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 Maersk Talent needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.