Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A)
Describes Jan Carlzon's actions on assuming the CEO's responsibility at SAS in a time of financial and organizational difficulty. After tracing Carlzon's development as a manager, it focuses on the way in which he developed, then communicated a clear and motivating strategic mission to become "the world's best businessman's airline." After a spectacular turnaround, organizational problems re-emerge, and the case concludes with Carlzon wondering if his "second wave" can provide the same impetus that he gained on his first wave. Highlights the power of a clear and well-communicated strategic mission (strategic intent), but also explores problems and limits that can arise. Specifically, focuses on the common problem of motivating middle managers who often feel disenfranchised by front line empowerment.
Authors :: Christopher A. Bartlett, Kenton W. Elderkin, Barbara Feinberg
Swot Analysis of "Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A)" written by Christopher A. Bartlett, Kenton W. Elderkin, Barbara Feinberg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carlzon's Carlzon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Crisis management, Human resource management, Knowledge management, Leadership, Motivating people, Recession, Strategy execution and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carlzon's Carlzon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carlzon's Carlzon
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 Carlzon's Carlzon
Strengths Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carlzon's Carlzon in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Carlzon's Carlzon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Carlzon's Carlzon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Carlzon's Carlzon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Carlzon's Carlzon is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carlzon's Carlzon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carlzon's Carlzon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Carlzon's Carlzon is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Carlzon's Carlzon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Carlzon's Carlzon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Carlzon's Carlzon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Carlzon's Carlzon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Christopher A. Bartlett, Kenton W. Elderkin, Barbara Feinberg 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.
Weaknesses Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) HBR case study mentions - Carlzon's Carlzon takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A), in the dynamic environment Carlzon's Carlzon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Carlzon's Carlzon 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, Carlzon's Carlzon 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. Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Carlzon's Carlzon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Carlzon's Carlzon 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 - Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Christopher A. Bartlett, Kenton W. Elderkin, Barbara Feinberg suggests that, Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Carlzon's Carlzon has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A), it seems that the employees of Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Opportunities Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Carlzon's Carlzon 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, Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Carlzon's Carlzon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Carlzon's Carlzon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) case study. Carlzon's Carlzon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Carlzon's Carlzon can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Carlzon's Carlzon can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carlzon's Carlzon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
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. Carlzon's Carlzon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
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 Carlzon's Carlzon in the consumer business. Now Carlzon's Carlzon can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Carlzon's Carlzon can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Manufacturing automation
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Carlzon's Carlzon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carlzon's Carlzon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A), Carlzon's Carlzon 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 .
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 Carlzon's Carlzon.
Increasing wage structure of Carlzon's Carlzon
– 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 Carlzon's Carlzon.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (A) .
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. Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Carlzon's Carlzon can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Carlzon's Carlzon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Carlzon's Carlzon 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 Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
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 Carlzon's Carlzon in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Carlzon's Carlzon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Jan Carlzon: CEO at SAS (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 Carlzon's Carlzon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.