A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version
When students have the English-language PDF of this Brief Case in a coursepack, they will also have the option to purchase an audio version.Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360A? performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division of Landon Care Products, which has recently been acquired by a European beauty company. Sander is leading the launch of a European skin care product into the U.S. market, which requires working with a multinational product development team. Sander's interactions with peers and direct reports in the case paint a picture of a tough, inflexible high achiever who uses temper as a management tool. At the end of the day, Sander's supervisor Sam Glass will provide Sander with 360A? performance feedback-the first time this process has been used at Landon. Sander remains skeptical about the value of the process and feedback, and of a long-term fit with the organization. On the other hand, Glass has a very high personal interest in keeping Sander at the company, but wonders how the organization can best develop and manage this star performer.
Swot Analysis of "A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version" written by Elizabeth Collins, Larry E. Greiner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sander Landon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Conflict, Difficult conversations, Informal leadership, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational culture, Product development, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sander Landon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sander Landon
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 Sander Landon
Strengths A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sander Landon in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sander Landon digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sander Landon 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.
Training and development
– Sander Landon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sander Landon 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sander Landon 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 Sander Landon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Sander Landon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sander Landon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sander Landon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sander Landon 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sander Landon 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
- Sander Landon 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 Sander Landon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Sander Landon is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sander Landon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sander Landon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sander Landon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sander Landon 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sander Landon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sander Landon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sander Landon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sander Landon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sander Landon 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 - A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sander Landon has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sander Landon 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sander Landon 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. Sander Landon 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version, it seems that the employees of Sander Landon 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Sander Landon 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elizabeth Collins, Larry E. Greiner suggests that, Sander Landon 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sander Landon, firm in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version are -
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. Sander Landon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Sander Landon 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sander Landon 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, A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sander Landon to increase its market reach. Sander Landon 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sander Landon 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 Sander Landon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sander Landon 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.
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. Sander Landon can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sander Landon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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.
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. Sander Landon 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. Sander Landon 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sander Landon 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sander Landon can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sander Landon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sander Landon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version case study. Sander Landon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Sander Landon 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.
Threats A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sander Landon 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Sander Landon 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sander Landon 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish Version, Sander Landon 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 .
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 Sander Landon in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Sander Landon business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Sander Landon
– 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 Sander Landon.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sander Landon 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.
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 Sander Landon.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sander Landon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sander Landon 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
– Sander Landon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products, Spanish 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 Sander Landon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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