Case Study Description of The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version)
This is a role-play case, intended for use in a leadership development course for MBA students. The case has four roles, two each for students playing U.S.- and China-based managers. There are two versions of the case, one for students playing the role of U.S.-based managers (L-22US), and one for students playing the role of China-based managers (L-22CHN). Each version has a set of common facts, plus a set of facts known only to that side. The role-play objectives stated in the case can only be successfully accomplished if the players solicit information from the other side, and work together to reach an agreement. Students must reset post-merger expectations, address the different underlining interests and get the merger plan back on track. They have the opportunity to demonstrate active listening, inquiry, and feedback regarding post-merger expectations at HBT headquarters and at HBT Shanghai. Both pairs of students will go into the meeting with varying objectives and will need to manage the other side's expectations and perceptions in a manner that may be assertive, collaborative, or both.
Swot Analysis of "The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version)" written by Larissa Tiedens, Sheila Melvin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hbt Merger facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hbt Merger, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hbt Merger
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 Hbt Merger
Strengths The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hbt Merger in The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hbt Merger has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hbt Merger 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.
Organizational Resilience of Hbt Merger
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hbt Merger does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hbt Merger is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hbt Merger digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hbt Merger 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.
Learning organization
- Hbt Merger 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 Hbt Merger is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Hbt Merger has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hbt Merger to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Hbt Merger is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hbt Merger 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hbt Merger in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hbt Merger is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version), 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hbt Merger 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version), is just above the industry average. Hbt Merger 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 Hbt Merger 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hbt Merger 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 - The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) HBR case study mentions - Hbt Merger 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version), in the dynamic environment Hbt Merger has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hbt Merger has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hbt Merger is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hbt Merger is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hbt Merger needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hbt Merger to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hbt Merger 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. Hbt Merger 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.
Opportunities The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) | 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hbt Merger 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hbt Merger can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hbt Merger operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Hbt Merger 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hbt Merger is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hbt Merger can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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.
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 Hbt Merger in the consumer business. Now Hbt Merger can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hbt Merger has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hbt Merger to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) case study. Hbt Merger 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. Hbt Merger 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. Hbt Merger 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hbt Merger 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. Hbt Merger can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hbt Merger 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hbt Merger to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Hbt Merger can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hbt Merger with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Hbt Merger 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.
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 Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version), Hbt Merger 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 .
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 Hbt Merger.
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 Hbt Merger business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Hbt Merger can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Hbt Merger 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. Hbt Merger can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hbt Merger 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hbt Merger is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hbt Merger has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hbt Merger 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 The HBT Merger (U.S. Roles version) 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 Hbt Merger needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.