Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership
The Fleet Safety project was developed in response to the needs of the members of the Fleet Forum, an informal collaborating body and independent knowledge centre for fleet management in the humanitarian sector. With the backing of Danish government aid agency Danida, the Fleet Safety project drew on the resources of government, the humanitarian sector and private companies to develop, test and disseminate a road safety toolkit for humanitarian organizations operating in the developing world. The toolkit was tested within the Kenya offices of six major humanitarian organizations before the definitive version was to be disseminated and promoted globally.
Swot Analysis of "Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership" written by Luk Van Wassenhove, Aline Gatignon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Humanitarian Fleet facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Humanitarian Fleet, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Humanitarian Fleet
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 Humanitarian Fleet
Strengths Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Humanitarian Fleet in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Humanitarian Fleet has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Humanitarian Fleet 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 recruit top talent
– Humanitarian Fleet is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Humanitarian Fleet digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Humanitarian Fleet is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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.
Analytics focus
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Luk Van Wassenhove, Aline Gatignon 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Humanitarian Fleet is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Humanitarian Fleet
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Humanitarian Fleet does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Humanitarian Fleet in the sector have low bargaining power. Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Humanitarian Fleet to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership, it seems that the employees of Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership HBR case study mentions - Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership, in the dynamic environment Humanitarian Fleet has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Humanitarian Fleet has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Humanitarian Fleet 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. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Humanitarian Fleet has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Humanitarian Fleet is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Humanitarian Fleet is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Humanitarian Fleet needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Humanitarian Fleet to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Humanitarian Fleet 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 - Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Humanitarian Fleet products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Humanitarian Fleet needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Humanitarian Fleet supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Humanitarian Fleet vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Humanitarian Fleet needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership | 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Humanitarian Fleet to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Humanitarian Fleet can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Humanitarian Fleet is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Humanitarian Fleet can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Humanitarian Fleet 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 Humanitarian Fleet to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Humanitarian Fleet has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Humanitarian Fleet to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership case study. Humanitarian Fleet can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Humanitarian Fleet to increase its market reach. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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 Humanitarian Fleet in the consumer business. Now Humanitarian Fleet can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Threats Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership are -
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Humanitarian Fleet 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Humanitarian Fleet has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Humanitarian Fleet 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 Humanitarian Fleet 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.
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. Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Humanitarian Fleet 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Humanitarian Fleet is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Humanitarian Fleet can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Humanitarian Fleet with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Humanitarian Fleet.
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 Humanitarian Fleet business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Safety in Numbers: Reducing Road Risk with Danida's Multi-sector Partnership 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 Humanitarian Fleet needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
