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 - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, 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 -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Deloitte Salzberg 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 Deloitte Salzberg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Deloitte Salzberg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Deloitte Salzberg is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Deloitte Salzberg in the sector have low bargaining power. Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Deloitte Salzberg to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Deloitte Salzberg 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Deloitte Salzberg 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 Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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 Deloitte Salzberg supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Deloitte Salzberg vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Deloitte Salzberg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Deloitte Salzberg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Deloitte Salzberg needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University, is just above the industry average. Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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 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.
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.
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 -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Deloitte Salzberg 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 Deloitte Salzberg 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 Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Deloitte Salzberg 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Deloitte Salzberg can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Deloitte Salzberg can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building a Developmental Culture: the Birth of Deloitte University 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.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Deloitte Salzberg to increase its market reach. Deloitte Salzberg will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Manufacturing automation
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Deloitte Salzberg is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Deloitte Salzberg demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Deloitte Salzberg has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Deloitte Salzberg 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.
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.
