Deutsche Borse and the European Markets SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Deutsche Borse and the European Markets
In December 2004, Deutsche Borse proposed an offer for the London Stock Exchange. Some shareholders opposed the acquisition, leading to the offer's withdrawal and replacement of management, including the CEO and board members. Written from the viewpoint of Deutsche Borse and addresses a number of issues: Was the attempted acquisition of the London Stock Exchange a reasonable strategy? Was the announced offer price reasonable? Why were dissident shareholders so opposed to the transaction? What allowed them to prevail? What could management or the supervisory board have done differently that might have led to a different outcome?
Authors :: Dwight B. Crane, Monika Stachowiak-Joulain
Swot Analysis of "Deutsche Borse and the European Markets" written by Dwight B. Crane, Monika Stachowiak-Joulain includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Borse Deutsche facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Financial markets, Mergers & acquisitions and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Deutsche Borse and the European Markets casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Deutsche Borse and the European Markets
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Borse Deutsche, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Borse Deutsche 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Borse Deutsche
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 Borse Deutsche
Strengths Deutsche Borse and the European Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Borse Deutsche in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Deutsche Borse and the European Markets firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Borse Deutsche to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Borse Deutsche to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Borse Deutsche 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 Borse Deutsche in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Borse Deutsche is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Borse Deutsche in the sector have low bargaining power. Deutsche Borse and the European Markets has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Borse Deutsche to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Deutsche Borse and the European Markets Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Training and development
– Borse Deutsche has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Borse Deutsche 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 Borse Deutsche in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Borse Deutsche 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 Borse Deutsche is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Borse Deutsche is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Borse Deutsche has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Deutsche Borse and the European Markets HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Borse Deutsche has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Borse Deutsche 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Deutsche Borse and the European Markets are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Borse Deutsche 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Borse Deutsche is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets, is just above the industry average. Borse Deutsche 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets, it seems that the employees of Borse Deutsche 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Borse Deutsche, firm in the HBR case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Borse Deutsche has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Borse Deutsche 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 - Deutsche Borse and the European Markets should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Borse Deutsche is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Borse Deutsche needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Borse Deutsche to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Borse Deutsche 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Dwight B. Crane, Monika Stachowiak-Joulain suggests that, Borse Deutsche 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets, in the dynamic environment Borse Deutsche has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Borse Deutsche has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Deutsche Borse and the European Markets | 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets are -
Loyalty marketing
– Borse Deutsche 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Borse Deutsche has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Borse Deutsche to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Deutsche Borse and the European Markets case study. Borse Deutsche can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Borse Deutsche 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.
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. Borse Deutsche 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. Borse Deutsche 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Borse Deutsche 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 Borse Deutsche 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. Borse Deutsche can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Borse Deutsche 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Borse Deutsche 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, Deutsche Borse and the European Markets, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Borse Deutsche 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.
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 Borse Deutsche in the consumer business. Now Borse Deutsche can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Borse Deutsche 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Borse Deutsche can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Borse Deutsche operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Borse Deutsche 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Borse Deutsche to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Deutsche Borse and the European Markets External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Deutsche Borse and the European Markets are -
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. Borse Deutsche needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Borse Deutsche can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Borse Deutsche has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Borse Deutsche 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Borse Deutsche 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.
Environmental challenges
– Borse Deutsche needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Borse Deutsche can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Borse Deutsche 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.
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 Borse Deutsche business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Borse Deutsche 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 Borse Deutsche
– 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 Borse Deutsche.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Borse Deutsche 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Borse Deutsche 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets, Borse Deutsche 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Deutsche Borse and the European Markets 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 Borse Deutsche needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
