Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry
In the early 1980s, the Swiss watch industry was near collapse after failing to adapt to Japanese competition from battery-powered quartz technology. In 1982, Jean-Claude Biver purchased Blancpain, a watch company that had been out of business since 1961 but had once made mechanical watches, for $16,000. After successfully reviving Blancpain, Biver sold the company to Nicolas G. Hayek (Chairman of the Swatch Group) for $43 million a decade later. Hayek agreed to have Biver stay on and gave him responsibility to revive the once venerable, but ailing, watch company Omega. Between 1995 and 1999, Biver led another turnaround effort that increased Omega's revenues from $350 million to $900 million. While it was presumed across the industry that Biver would be the next CEO of Swatch Group, in early 2000 Biver began to sense that he may not receive the top position when Hayek retired. At the end of the case, Biver must decide whether he should leave the Swatch Group and retire himself, or possibly start over yet again and take the reins of a small but struggling watch company, Hublot. The case examines the actions that Biver took to transform Blancpain and Omega, and how his broad vision ultimately transformed the entire Swiss watch industry. It presents Biver as a complex leader who at times could be very harsh on his employees, but whose passion and vision engendered fierce loyalty from those who worked with him.
Swot Analysis of "Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry" written by Ryan Raffaelli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Biver Watch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Biver Watch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Biver Watch 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Biver Watch
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 Biver Watch
Strengths Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Biver Watch in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Biver Watch 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 Biver Watch in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Biver Watch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Biver Watch is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Biver Watch digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Biver Watch 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.
Organizational Resilience of Biver Watch
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Biver Watch does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Biver Watch is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Biver Watch has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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.
Learning organization
- Biver Watch 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 Biver Watch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Biver Watch 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Biver Watch to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Biver Watch to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Biver Watch 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 Ryan Raffaelli 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Biver Watch 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Biver Watch has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry, it seems that the employees of Biver Watch 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.
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 Biver Watch supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Biver Watch vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry HBR case study mentions - Biver Watch 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Biver Watch 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Biver Watch 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Biver Watch 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Biver Watch is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Biver Watch needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Biver Watch to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry, is just above the industry average. Biver Watch needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Biver Watch products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Biver Watch needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry | 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry are -
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. Biver Watch 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. Biver Watch 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Biver Watch 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Biver Watch 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Biver Watch 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Biver Watch 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Biver Watch is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Biver Watch can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Biver Watch 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Biver Watch can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Biver Watch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Biver Watch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry case study. Biver Watch can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Biver Watch in the consumer business. Now Biver Watch can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Biver Watch can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Biver Watch operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Biver Watch 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry are -
Increasing wage structure of Biver Watch
– 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 Biver Watch.
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.
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 Biver Watch.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Biver Watch 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.
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. Biver Watch needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Biver Watch 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. Biver Watch can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Biver Watch 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Biver Watch with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Biver Watch in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Biver Watch in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Biver Watch business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Biver Watch 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry 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 Biver Watch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
