Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C)
The case describes how the Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization and its corporate parent resolved the issue of how the disputed funds would be distributed and used.
Authors :: V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh, Rachel Gordon
Swot Analysis of "Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C)" written by V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh, Rachel Gordon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Disputed Brigham facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Disputed Brigham, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Disputed Brigham 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Disputed Brigham
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Disputed Brigham
Strengths Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Disputed Brigham in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Disputed Brigham has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Disputed Brigham 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Disputed Brigham in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Disputed Brigham
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Disputed Brigham does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Disputed Brigham in the sector have low bargaining power. Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Disputed Brigham to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Disputed Brigham has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Disputed Brigham is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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
– Disputed Brigham 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 V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh, Rachel Gordon 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.
Learning organization
- Disputed Brigham 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 Disputed Brigham is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Disputed Brigham digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Disputed Brigham 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Disputed Brigham is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Disputed Brigham to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Disputed Brigham to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Disputed Brigham 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) - 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Disputed Brigham is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Disputed Brigham needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Disputed Brigham to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C), in the dynamic environment Disputed Brigham has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Disputed Brigham has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Disputed Brigham 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. Disputed Brigham 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.
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 Disputed Brigham supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Disputed Brigham vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) HBR case study mentions - Disputed Brigham 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Disputed Brigham 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Disputed Brigham, firm in the HBR case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh, Rachel Gordon suggests that, Disputed Brigham 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Disputed Brigham 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Disputed Brigham is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) | 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Disputed Brigham 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Disputed Brigham can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Disputed Brigham has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Disputed Brigham to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) case study. Disputed Brigham can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Disputed Brigham 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Disputed Brigham 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 Disputed Brigham in the consumer business. Now Disputed Brigham can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Disputed Brigham is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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, Disputed Brigham 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, Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Disputed Brigham 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Disputed Brigham 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. Disputed Brigham 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
– Disputed Brigham 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Disputed Brigham to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Disputed Brigham 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Disputed Brigham can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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.
Threats Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Disputed Brigham 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) .
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 Disputed Brigham business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Disputed Brigham 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C), Disputed Brigham may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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 Disputed Brigham.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Disputed Brigham in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Disputed Brigham in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Disputed Brigham is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Disputed Brigham with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Disputed Brigham 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Disputed Brigham can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Disputed Brigham
– 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 Disputed Brigham.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C) 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 Disputed Brigham needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
