A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A)
This case refers the store of a Chinese restaurant chain purchased by an American Food Industry Holding. Regardless of his successful career in the company, Juan Antonio can't reach and understanding with the Chinese workers. Besides, they enjoy special perks inside the company because they are the cooks and the success of the business depends mostly of them. Rank wise they are directly under a specific director for the Chinese workers and the Group's Operation Manager.The conflict develops when Jan, head of the kitchen of the restaurant managed by Juan Antonio, disappears and the second head of the kitching tells him that Jan took his vacations because his mother is sick. In view of this, company promotes the second chef and hired a new cook. However, a month goes back and Jan returns to work as if nothing had happened, ignoring Juan Antonio's warnings that he doesn't work there anymore. When the director of Operations informs him that he has been transferred to another restaurant, half an hour away from Madrid Jan confronts the second cook and the police is forced to step in and arrest him.Although the situation seems to have been solved, the next day more than 100 Chinese cooks go on a wild strike and the chain was forced to close more than 14 restaurants. They demanded that his workmate be reinstated, the Spanish Operation Manager fired and the salaries rose.
Authors :: Lourdes Susaeta Erburu, Arboledas Pin, R. Jose
Swot Analysis of "A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A)" written by Lourdes Susaeta Erburu, Arboledas Pin, R. Jose includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jan Juan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Personnel policies, Psychology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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%,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jan Juan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jan Juan 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 Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jan Juan
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 Jan Juan
Strengths A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jan Juan in A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Jan Juan 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.
High brand equity
– Jan Juan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jan Juan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jan Juan digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jan Juan 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.
Organizational Resilience of Jan Juan
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Jan Juan does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jan Juan 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)
– Jan Juan 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 Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Jan Juan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jan Juan 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Jan Juan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Jan Juan has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jan Juan 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jan Juan in the sector have low bargaining power. A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jan Juan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Jan Juan 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jan Juan 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Jan Juan 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Jan Juan, firm in the HBR case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A), in the dynamic environment Jan Juan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jan Juan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lourdes Susaeta Erburu, Arboledas Pin, R. Jose suggests that, Jan Juan 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jan Juan 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A), it seems that the employees of Jan Juan 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Jan Juan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) 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 A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) HBR case study mentions - Jan Juan 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.
Opportunities A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) are -
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 Jan Juan in the consumer business. Now Jan Juan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jan Juan to increase its market reach. Jan Juan 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jan Juan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jan Juan 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 Jan Juan to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jan Juan 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 A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jan Juan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jan Juan 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jan Juan 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.
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. Jan Juan can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Jan Juan 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jan Juan can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jan Juan operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Jan Juan 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, Jan Juan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Jan Juan 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 A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jan Juan 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. Jan Juan 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.
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. Jan Juan can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jan Juan 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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Jan Juan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Jan Juan
– 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 Jan Juan.
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 Jan Juan.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jan Juan 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jan Juan 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.
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
– Jan Juan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jan Juan 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Jan Juan 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. Jan Juan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of A Cross Cultural Crash and Labor Conflict: SA?i nA?ng Restaurant (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Jan Juan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.