First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group
This case is available in only hard copy format (HBP does not have digital distribution rights to the content). As a result, a digital Educator Copy of the case is not available through this web site.After nine years of leading First Community Bank (FCB), BankBoston's unique venture targeting low- to moderate-income communities, and finally gaining recognition and respect for her efforts, Gail Snowden must once again faces the challenge of justifying FCB's value, this time, as part of the umbrella group, Community Banking Group (CBG), formed in 1996 due to a merge with BayBank, she must justify it to a new parent company, Fleet Bank. To successfully integrate CBG/FCB into the mainstream organization, Snowden faces many organizational and cultural hurdles.
Swot Analysis of "First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Daniel Galvin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cbg Snowden facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Public relations, Social responsibility, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cbg Snowden, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cbg Snowden 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cbg Snowden
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cbg Snowden
Strengths First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cbg Snowden in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cbg Snowden 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cbg Snowden in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cbg Snowden to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cbg Snowden to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Cbg Snowden has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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.
High brand equity
– Cbg Snowden has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cbg Snowden to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cbg Snowden in the sector have low bargaining power. First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cbg Snowden to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Cbg Snowden
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cbg Snowden does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cbg Snowden digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cbg Snowden 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.
Analytics focus
– Cbg Snowden 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Daniel Galvin 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Cbg Snowden 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 recruit top talent
– Cbg Snowden is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cbg Snowden is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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.
Weaknesses First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group, is just above the industry average. Cbg Snowden 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cbg Snowden 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 Cbg Snowden supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cbg Snowden vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cbg Snowden 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 - First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group, in the dynamic environment Cbg Snowden has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cbg Snowden has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Daniel Galvin suggests that, Cbg Snowden 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cbg Snowden, firm in the HBR case study First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cbg Snowden 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cbg Snowden products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cbg Snowden needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cbg Snowden 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group HBR case study mentions - Cbg Snowden 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.
Opportunities First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group | 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cbg Snowden is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cbg Snowden 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cbg Snowden 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 Cbg Snowden to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Cbg Snowden can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Cbg Snowden in the consumer business. Now Cbg Snowden can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cbg Snowden 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 Organizational Development segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cbg Snowden can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cbg Snowden can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cbg Snowden 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cbg Snowden to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cbg Snowden 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. Cbg Snowden 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cbg Snowden to increase its market reach. Cbg Snowden 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cbg Snowden can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cbg Snowden 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, First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group, Cbg Snowden may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
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.
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. Cbg Snowden 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cbg Snowden 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.
Increasing wage structure of Cbg Snowden
– 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 Cbg Snowden.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cbg Snowden in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
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 Cbg Snowden.
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. Cbg Snowden needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cbg Snowden 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.
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 Cbg Snowden in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cbg Snowden 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cbg Snowden has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cbg Snowden needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 First Community Bank (B): Community Banking Group 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 Cbg Snowden needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
