Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University
It is October 2009 and Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte LLP, has just returned from the groundbreaking of Deloitte University. When completed, Deloitte University would be a world class learning and development center owned by, and for the exclusive use by the employees of, Deloitte. Deloitte spent a significant amount of time and money on the training and development of its employees. Historically, this training had taken place at hotels and conference centers, not affiliated with Deloitte. The idea for the construction of a special-purpose, Deloitte-owned learning facility had been championed by Salzberg. He believed Deloitte University would allow the firm to "instill our values in our people through learning and development" which he thought was critical to Deloitte's long-term success. Salzberg had won over the necessary majority of the partners, but not all of them supported the University concept. As he thought about the future of this new facility, how could he ensure it would be successful?
Authors :: Boris Groysberg, Maureen Gibbons, Joshua Bronstein
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Costs, Human resource management, Leading teams, Strategic planning, Strategy execution, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University" written by Boris Groysberg, Maureen Gibbons, Joshua Bronstein includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Deloitte Salzberg facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs, Human resource management, Leading teams, Strategic planning, Strategy execution and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices,
increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Deloitte Salzberg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Deloitte Salzberg 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Deloitte Salzberg
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 Deloitte Salzberg
Strengths Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Deloitte Salzberg in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Deloitte Salzberg digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Deloitte Salzberg 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 recruit top talent
– Deloitte Salzberg is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Deloitte Salzberg 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 Deloitte Salzberg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Deloitte Salzberg has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Deloitte Salzberg is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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.
Organizational Resilience of Deloitte Salzberg
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Deloitte Salzberg does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Deloitte Salzberg 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, Maureen Gibbons, Joshua Bronstein 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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.
High brand equity
– Deloitte Salzberg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Deloitte Salzberg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Training and development
– Deloitte Salzberg has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Deloitte Salzberg in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Deloitte Salzberg is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Deloitte Salzberg needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Deloitte Salzberg to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Deloitte Salzberg 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 - Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Deloitte Salzberg 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. Deloitte Salzberg 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Boris Groysberg, Maureen Gibbons, Joshua Bronstein suggests that, Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Deloitte Salzberg, firm in the HBR case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Deloitte Salzberg 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Deloitte Salzberg has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University HBR case study mentions - Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Deloitte Salzberg is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Deloitte Salzberg 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University | 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Deloitte Salzberg 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, Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Deloitte Salzberg is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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.
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. Deloitte Salzberg 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. Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Deloitte Salzberg can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Deloitte Salzberg operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Deloitte Salzberg can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Deloitte Salzberg in the consumer business. Now Deloitte Salzberg can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Deloitte Salzberg 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Deloitte Salzberg to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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. Deloitte Salzberg can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University are -
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. Deloitte Salzberg needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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 Deloitte Salzberg.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Deloitte Salzberg
– 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 Deloitte Salzberg.
Environmental challenges
– Deloitte Salzberg 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. Deloitte Salzberg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University, Deloitte Salzberg 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 .
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. Deloitte Salzberg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Deloitte Salzberg business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Deloitte Salzberg 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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 Deloitte Salzberg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.