Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A)
Intended to advance understanding of corporate responsibility in the context of a bankruptcy decision. The case documents the implementation of a turnaround plan for financially ailing Braniff International. This includes a new marketing and operations strategy, concessions from labor, changes in management, and a financial restructuring. The narrative describes the worsening financial condition of the company and the choices made by the CEO and CFO to raise cash and avoid filing. These choices and events led to progressively limited options. It was decided that attempting to reorganize under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Reform Act was preferable to being placed into involuntary bankruptcy under Chapter VII. This required keeping preparations secret and eventually filing by surprise.
Authors :: Kenneth E. Goodpaster, David E. Whiteside
Swot Analysis of "Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A)" written by Kenneth E. Goodpaster, David E. Whiteside includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Braniff Bankruptcy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Reorganization, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Braniff Bankruptcy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Braniff Bankruptcy
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 Braniff Bankruptcy
Strengths Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Braniff Bankruptcy in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff Bankruptcy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Braniff Bankruptcy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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.
Training and development
– Braniff Bankruptcy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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.
Organizational Resilience of Braniff Bankruptcy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Braniff Bankruptcy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Braniff Bankruptcy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Braniff Bankruptcy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Braniff Bankruptcy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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.
Analytics focus
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Kenneth E. Goodpaster, David E. Whiteside 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Braniff Bankruptcy in the sector have low bargaining power. Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Braniff Bankruptcy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff Bankruptcy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A), it seems that the employees of Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Braniff Bankruptcy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Braniff Bankruptcy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Braniff Bankruptcy is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Braniff Bankruptcy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Braniff Bankruptcy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kenneth E. Goodpaster, David E. Whiteside suggests that, Braniff Bankruptcy 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff Bankruptcy 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) HBR case study mentions - Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Braniff Bankruptcy needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Braniff Bankruptcy can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Braniff Bankruptcy can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Braniff Bankruptcy 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. Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Braniff Bankruptcy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Braniff Bankruptcy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Braniff Bankruptcy 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, Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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.
Loyalty marketing
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Braniff Bankruptcy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Braniff Bankruptcy can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff Bankruptcy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Braniff Bankruptcy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Braniff Bankruptcy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) case study. Braniff Bankruptcy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Braniff Bankruptcy to increase its market reach. Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
Threats Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Braniff Bankruptcy is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
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. Braniff Bankruptcy 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 Braniff Bankruptcy
– 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 Braniff Bankruptcy.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
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. Braniff Bankruptcy can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Braniff Bankruptcy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Braniff Bankruptcy 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.
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 Braniff Bankruptcy in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Braniff Bankruptcy.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (A), Braniff Bankruptcy 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Braniff Bankruptcy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff International: The Ethics of Bankruptcy (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 Braniff Bankruptcy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
