Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change
A young and upcoming French executive in a global technology company is sent to Moscow as deputy managing director to turn around the Russia subsidiary. He must report to the subsidiary's managing director (a large reason for the organization's underperformance) and to corporate. In his first three months, he took steps to prepare the organization for change. Yet the lack of more tangible actions and results leaves him open to criticism from subsidiary employees and pressure from corporate executives. How can the young executive unfreeze the situation and get movement?
Swot Analysis of "Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Matthew Bird includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Moscow Unfreeze facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, IT, Leadership development, Reorganization and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Moscow Unfreeze, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Moscow Unfreeze 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Moscow Unfreeze
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 Moscow Unfreeze
Strengths Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Moscow Unfreeze in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Moscow Unfreeze 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change - 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
– Moscow Unfreeze has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Moscow Unfreeze is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Moscow Unfreeze in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Moscow Unfreeze digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Moscow Unfreeze is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Moscow Unfreeze is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Moscow Unfreeze is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Moscow Unfreeze has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Moscow Unfreeze to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Moscow Unfreeze 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 Moscow Unfreeze is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Moscow Unfreeze 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Matthew Bird 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.
Weaknesses Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change HBR case study mentions - Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Moscow Unfreeze is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Moscow Unfreeze needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Moscow Unfreeze to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Moscow Unfreeze has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, it seems that the employees of Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Moscow Unfreeze 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, Moscow Unfreeze is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Moscow Unfreeze 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 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 Moscow Unfreeze supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Moscow Unfreeze vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, in the dynamic environment Moscow Unfreeze has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Moscow Unfreeze has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change | 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Moscow Unfreeze 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, Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Moscow Unfreeze in the consumer business. Now Moscow Unfreeze can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Moscow Unfreeze is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Moscow Unfreeze can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Moscow Unfreeze 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 Moscow Unfreeze to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Moscow Unfreeze can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Moscow Unfreeze 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. Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Threats Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Moscow Unfreeze 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.
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 Moscow Unfreeze business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Environmental challenges
– Moscow Unfreeze 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. Moscow Unfreeze can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change, Moscow Unfreeze 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Moscow Unfreeze
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Moscow Unfreeze.
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 Moscow Unfreeze in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Moscow Unfreeze is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Moscow Unfreeze 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Moscow Unfreeze 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Moscow Unfreeze 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.
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. Moscow Unfreeze can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change 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 Moscow Unfreeze needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
