The Clonlara Hotel SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Clonlara Hotel
The manager of an upscale hotel in the heart of London, Ontario - The Clonlara - wanted to apply revenue management techniques to increase revenue at the hotel. Specifically, she wanted to apply quantitative analysis to determine how many rooms to discount for a Saturday night stay.
Swot Analysis of "The Clonlara Hotel" written by John G. Wilson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clonlara Hotel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Clonlara Hotel case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Clonlara Hotel casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Clonlara Hotel
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Clonlara Hotel case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clonlara Hotel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Clonlara Hotel case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clonlara Hotel
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 Clonlara Hotel
Strengths The Clonlara Hotel | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clonlara Hotel in The Clonlara Hotel Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– The Clonlara Hotel firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clonlara Hotel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clonlara Hotel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Clonlara Hotel 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 Clonlara Hotel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Clonlara Hotel Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Clonlara Hotel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Clonlara Hotel Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Clonlara Hotel 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clonlara Hotel 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Clonlara Hotel in the sector have low bargaining power. The Clonlara Hotel has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Clonlara Hotel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Clonlara Hotel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Clonlara Hotel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Clonlara Hotel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Clonlara Hotel 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Clonlara Hotel 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 Clonlara Hotel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Clonlara Hotel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Clonlara Hotel 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 John G. Wilson 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Clonlara Hotel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Clonlara Hotel 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.
Weaknesses The Clonlara Hotel | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Clonlara Hotel are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clonlara Hotel 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.
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 Clonlara Hotel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Clonlara Hotel, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Clonlara Hotel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Clonlara Hotel 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 Clonlara Hotel 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clonlara Hotel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clonlara Hotel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Clonlara Hotel HBR case study mentions - Clonlara Hotel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Clonlara Hotel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Clonlara Hotel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Clonlara Hotel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Clonlara Hotel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Clonlara Hotel can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Clonlara Hotel 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Clonlara Hotel, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Clonlara Hotel is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clonlara Hotel 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.
Opportunities The Clonlara Hotel | 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 The Clonlara Hotel are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clonlara Hotel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Clonlara Hotel 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Clonlara Hotel 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clonlara Hotel 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Clonlara Hotel 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, The Clonlara Hotel, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Clonlara Hotel 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 Clonlara Hotel 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, Clonlara Hotel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clonlara Hotel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clonlara Hotel to increase its market reach. Clonlara Hotel 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.
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 Clonlara Hotel in the consumer business. Now Clonlara Hotel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Clonlara Hotel 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 Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Clonlara Hotel 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. Clonlara Hotel 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Clonlara Hotel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Clonlara Hotel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Clonlara Hotel case study. Clonlara Hotel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Clonlara Hotel in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats The Clonlara Hotel External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Clonlara Hotel are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Clonlara Hotel with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Clonlara Hotel, Clonlara Hotel 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clonlara Hotel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clonlara Hotel needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Clonlara Hotel 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.
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.
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 Clonlara Hotel.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Clonlara Hotel 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel .
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. Clonlara Hotel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clonlara Hotel is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Clonlara Hotel in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clonlara Hotel 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel 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 The Clonlara Hotel 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 Clonlara Hotel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
