Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited
On December 20, 2008, Ontario's premier, Dalton McGuinty, and Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced their decision to provide $3 billion in interim loans to General Motors of Canada Limited. Due to the 2008 economic downturn and declining auto sales, the company had drawn from its cash reserves in an effort to maintain operations and, as a result, was facing insolvency. The automaker accounted for approximately 19,000 direct jobs in Ontario, and its collapse would mean a great economic loss for Canada. The provincial and federal governments needed to work together to support the company and, in doing so, also support Canada's economy during this financial downturn. Ontario's assistant deputy minister of Finance needed to determine the best way to proceed with the proposed financial plan, while also working with multiple governments and appeasing public opinion.
Swot Analysis of "Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited" written by Paul Boothe, Connor Lyons, David Zhang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ontario's Canada facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Manufacturing, Negotiations, Public relations, Recession, Reorganization and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ontario's Canada, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ontario's Canada
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 Ontario's Canada
Strengths Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ontario's Canada in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Ontario's Canada has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ontario's Canada in the sector have low bargaining power. Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ontario's Canada to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ontario's Canada in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ontario's Canada is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ontario's Canada 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
– Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ontario's Canada to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ontario's Canada to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Ontario's Canada has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ontario's Canada to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ontario's Canada digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ontario's Canada 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Ontario's Canada is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ontario's Canada 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 - Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ontario's Canada 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, it seems that the employees of Ontario's Canada 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, Ontario's Canada is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ontario's Canada 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
Ontario's Canada 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Ontario's Canada has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited HBR case study mentions - Ontario's Canada 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ontario's Canada, firm in the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, is just above the industry average. Ontario's Canada needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Opportunities Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited | 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Ontario's Canada in the consumer business. Now Ontario's Canada can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ontario's Canada 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ontario's Canada can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ontario's Canada to increase its market reach. Ontario's Canada 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.
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 Ontario's Canada 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ontario's Canada 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ontario's Canada 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ontario's Canada is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ontario's Canada 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.
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. Ontario's Canada can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ontario's Canada 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.
Threats Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ontario's Canada 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.
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 Ontario's Canada business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Ontario's Canada.
Increasing wage structure of Ontario's Canada
– 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 Ontario's Canada.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ontario's Canada 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ontario's Canada 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Ontario's Canada 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 Ontario's Canada is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Ontario's Canada 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited, Ontario's Canada 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 .
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. Ontario's Canada can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Ontario's Canada 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Meeting Ontario's Goals in the Restructuring of General Motors of Canada Limited 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 Ontario's Canada needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.