Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A)
The chief executive officer of Modern Appliances wants to change the culture in the company towards one of engagement of people at all levels of the organization. The (A) case describes the ModernIzation initiative and provides a basis for analyzing the reason for the initiative and identifying some of the issues that may arise from it. The (B) case looks at specific problems that arise and the (C) case discusses the process used by the company.
Swot Analysis of "Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A)" written by Jeffrey Gandz includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Appliances Arise facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Motivating people, Productivity and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Appliances Arise, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Appliances Arise
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 Appliances Arise
Strengths Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Appliances Arise in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Appliances Arise is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Appliances Arise has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Appliances Arise 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.
Learning organization
- Appliances Arise 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 Appliances Arise is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Appliances Arise digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Appliances Arise has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Appliances Arise 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 Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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.
Analytics focus
– Appliances Arise 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 Jeffrey Gandz 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Appliances Arise 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.
High brand equity
– Appliances Arise has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Appliances Arise to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Appliances Arise is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Appliances Arise, firm in the HBR case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Appliances Arise products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Appliances Arise needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Appliances Arise has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A), it seems that the employees of Appliances Arise 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Appliances Arise 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. Appliances Arise 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Appliances Arise 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 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 Appliances Arise supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Appliances Arise vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Appliances Arise is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Appliances Arise is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Appliances Arise is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Appliances Arise needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Appliances Arise to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jeffrey Gandz suggests that, Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) | 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Appliances Arise 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Appliances Arise is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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.
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 Appliances Arise 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Appliances Arise to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Appliances Arise can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Appliances Arise can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Appliances Arise operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Appliances Arise 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Appliances Arise has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Appliances Arise to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) case study. Appliances Arise can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Appliances Arise 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. Appliances Arise 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Appliances Arise 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Appliances Arise 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 Appliances Arise to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Appliances Arise in the consumer business. Now Appliances Arise can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Appliances Arise 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.
Threats Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Appliances Arise in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Appliances Arise 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) .
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 Appliances Arise is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Appliances Arise 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A), Appliances Arise 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 .
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. Appliances Arise 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.
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 Appliances Arise in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Appliances Arise has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Appliances Arise 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Appliances Arise 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.
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 Appliances Arise.
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. Appliances Arise 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 Appliances Arise business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A) 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 Appliances Arise needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.