ESWOT: An Econometrics Approach To SWOT Analysis On The Evaluation Of IBM's Strategy

Abstract

ABSTRACT The various challenges a company meets when facing globalization emphasize more than ever the role of strategic management. Many companies conduct SWOT analysis as part of the strategic planning process, yet criticism in employing SWOT pinpoints the fact that the analysis lacks the possibility of comprehensively appraising the strategic decision-making situation. On another hand, a company’s strategic decision making impacts and is impacted at the same time by the different groups that contour its direct environment. The three most important ones are the shareholders, the organization’s employees, represented by the unions, and the board of directors. This paper sets out to take an integrative approach to SWOT analysis through the use of an econometrics model in order to quantitatively determine the importance of each of the factors to be evaluated. Therefore, this paper introduces ESWOT as a theoretical framework through the integration of econometrics and SWOT analysis, in order to measure the impact of global strategies, strategic business units, human resource policies and policy change strategies on IBM’s evolution from three perspectives: the board, the shareholders and the employees. The focus of the research is hence twofold: it provides a novel, quantitative approach to a veteran strategic analysis tool, as well as it tackles IBM’s strategy through this new perspective. By using the ESWOT analysis we successfully explain the relationships between the border, the stockholders and the unions’ interests. IBM must focus its future objectives on its core business that enables it to create a niche in the market, and recruiting the right staff, especially the right CEO to lead the team in achieving the substantial goals of the company and guiding it through the future challenges brought upon by the global financial crisis.