Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A)
Sherif Mityas, recently promoted as project manager at A.T. Kearney, faced a client service challenge in his very first project experience. Mityas had been working closely for six weeks with the management team of the U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-headquartered consumer products company to identify ways to turn around the U.S. operations. Following the midproject status meeting, executives from the Japanese parent company made an unexpected request that placed Mityas in a quandary. Mityas related the situation: "At the conclusion of the midproject meeting, I felt confident that we had made solid recommendations about turning around the U.S. operations, but the Japanese parent company executives made a difficult request. They wanted us to evaluate the ability of the U.S. management team to carry out the turnaround. U.S. management had been instrumental in our being able to understand and analyze the situation comprehensively, and we would need their cooperation for our future work to be meaningful. If they came to know that we were simultaneously evaluating them, we could lose their trust--but, then, the Japanese executives represented the client. I didn't know how to proceed."
Swot Analysis of "Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A)" written by Ashish Nanda, Kelley Morrell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mityas Midproject facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Customers, Ethics, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mityas Midproject, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mityas Midproject 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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mityas Midproject
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 Mityas Midproject
Strengths Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mityas Midproject in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mityas Midproject to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mityas Midproject to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Mityas Midproject is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mityas Midproject is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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.
Organizational Resilience of Mityas Midproject
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mityas Midproject does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mityas Midproject 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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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.
Training and development
– Mityas Midproject has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mityas Midproject are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Mityas Midproject 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 Mityas Midproject is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mityas Midproject 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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mityas Midproject in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mityas Midproject has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mityas Midproject 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.
Weaknesses Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ashish Nanda, Kelley Morrell suggests that, Mityas Midproject 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A), is just above the industry average. Mityas Midproject 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.
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 Mityas Midproject supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mityas Midproject vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mityas Midproject 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) HBR case study mentions - Mityas Midproject 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A), it seems that the employees of Mityas Midproject 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) 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 Mityas Midproject 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mityas Midproject has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mityas Midproject 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 - Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mityas Midproject 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.
Opportunities Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Mityas Midproject 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mityas Midproject 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Mityas Midproject can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mityas Midproject to increase its market reach. Mityas Midproject 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mityas Midproject can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mityas Midproject operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Mityas Midproject 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. Mityas Midproject 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.
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. Mityas Midproject can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Mityas Midproject in the consumer business. Now Mityas Midproject can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mityas Midproject 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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mityas Midproject to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mityas Midproject 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 Mityas Midproject to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mityas Midproject 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mityas Midproject can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mityas Midproject has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mityas Midproject to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) case study. Mityas Midproject can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) are -
Regulatory challenges
– Mityas Midproject 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.
Environmental challenges
– Mityas Midproject 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. Mityas Midproject can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mityas Midproject has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mityas Midproject 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 Mityas Midproject 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mityas Midproject with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mityas Midproject 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mityas Midproject 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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A) .
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. Mityas Midproject 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mityas Midproject 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.
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.
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 Mityas Midproject in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (A), Mityas Midproject 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 .
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 Mityas Midproject business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney: Negotiating a Client Service Predicament (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 Mityas Midproject needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
