Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
Examines Beer's actions on assuming leadership of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, the world's sixth largest advertising agency, during a period of rapid industry change and organizational crisis. Focuses on how Beers, the first outsider CEO, engages and leads a senior team through a vision formulation process. Chronicles closely the debates among senior executives struggling to reconcile creative, strategic, and global vs. local priorities. Sixteen months later, with a vision statement agreed upon, Beers faces a series of implementation problems. Turnaround has begun, but organizational structures and systems are not yet aligned with the firm's new direction. Concludes as Beers must decide how to work best with her senior team to achieve alignment in 1994.
Swot Analysis of "Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)" written by Herminia Ibarra, Nicole Sackley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Beers Mather facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Marketing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beers Mather, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beers Mather 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beers Mather
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 Beers Mather
Strengths Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Beers Mather in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Beers Mather digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Beers Mather 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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.
Learning organization
- Beers Mather 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 Beers Mather is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Beers Mather is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Beers Mather has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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.
Analytics focus
– Beers Mather 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 Herminia Ibarra, Nicole Sackley 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Beers Mather 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.
Organizational Resilience of Beers Mather
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Beers Mather does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Beers Mather 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Beers Mather 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Beers Mather 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 Beers Mather in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Beers Mather 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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.
Weaknesses Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Beers Mather 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. Beers Mather 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Beers Mather is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Beers Mather, firm in the HBR case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Beers Mather is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Beers Mather needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Beers Mather to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Beers Mather 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 - Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), in the dynamic environment Beers Mather has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Beers Mather has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Beers Mather supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Beers Mather vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) 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 Beers Mather has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Beers Mather 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), is just above the industry average. Beers Mather 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Beers Mather 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.
Opportunities Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Beers Mather 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Beers Mather 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Beers Mather can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Beers Mather can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Beers Mather 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.
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 Beers Mather in the consumer business. Now Beers Mather can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Beers Mather can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Beers Mather 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Beers Mather to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Beers Mather 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 Beers Mather to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Beers Mather is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Beers Mather 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, Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Beers Mather 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Beers Mather has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Beers Mather to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) case study. Beers Mather can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) are -
Environmental challenges
– Beers Mather 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. Beers Mather can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Beers Mather with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Beers Mather has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Beers Mather 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Beers Mather 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.
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. Beers Mather 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. Beers Mather can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Beers Mather 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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Beers Mather is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Beers Mather.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Beers Mather 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), Beers Mather 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (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 Beers Mather needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
