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First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A)


Presents the human resource challenges associated with First Chicago Corp.'s strategy in the corporate banking market. They want to maintain strong "relationships" with customers, while also developing strong investment banking capabilities. They face three problems: recruiting and keeping investment bankers, motivating "relationship managers" (RM's) (who see career success in terms of moving away from client contact and up the managerial hierarchy), and getting the investment bankers and RM's to work together.

Authors :: Raymond A. Friedman

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: Competitive strategy, Human resource management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A)" written by Raymond A. Friedman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rm's Bankers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Human resource management and Organizational Development.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rm's Bankers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rm's Bankers 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 Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rm's Bankers
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 Rm's Bankers




Strengths First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Rm's Bankers in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rm's Bankers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rm's Bankers 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Rm's Bankers 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.

Training and development

– Rm's Bankers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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.

Organizational Resilience of Rm's Bankers

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rm's Bankers 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 Rm's Bankers 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Rm's Bankers 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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Rm's Bankers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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

– Rm's Bankers 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 Raymond A. Friedman 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Rm's Bankers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High brand equity

– Rm's Bankers has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rm's Bankers to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry

– First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rm's Bankers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rm's Bankers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Diverse revenue streams

– Rm's Bankers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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.






Weaknesses First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rm's Bankers is planning to shift buying processes online.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A), it seems that the employees of Rm's Bankers 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Rm's Bankers has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Need for greater diversity

– Rm's Bankers 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Rm's Bankers 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A), in the dynamic environment Rm's Bankers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Rm's Bankers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rm's Bankers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rm's Bankers 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. Rm's Bankers 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 star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 Rm's Bankers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Rm's Bankers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Rm's Bankers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rm's Bankers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.




Opportunities First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Rm's Bankers 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 Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rm's Bankers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rm's Bankers 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 Rm's Bankers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rm's Bankers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rm's Bankers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Rm's Bankers 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.

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. Rm's Bankers 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 Rm's Bankers in the consumer business. Now Rm's Bankers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Manufacturing automation

– Rm's Bankers can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Rm's Bankers 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rm's Bankers to increase its market reach. Rm's Bankers 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rm's Bankers 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.

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 Rm's Bankers 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.

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. Rm's Bankers 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. Rm's Bankers 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Rm's Bankers 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.




Threats First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) are -

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 Rm's Bankers in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rm's Bankers 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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A) .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Rm's Bankers 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.

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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rm's Bankers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rm's Bankers 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.

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 Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A), Rm's Bankers 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 .

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 Rm's Bankers.

Regulatory challenges

– Rm's Bankers 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Rm's Bankers 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Rm's Bankers is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Rm's Bankers 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.

Increasing wage structure of Rm's Bankers

– 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 Rm's Bankers.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (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 Rm's Bankers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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