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The University of Notre Dame Endowment SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of The University of Notre Dame Endowment


To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.The Endowment Model of Investing, which was based on creating high risk-adjusted performance through diversification, a long time-horizon, top-notch outside managers, and illiquid investments, had served Notre Dame and other large universities well over the past several decades. Scott Malpass, Notre Dame's Chief Investment Officer, was confident that this was a successful way to invest if implemented effectively, but he also saw the top university endowments experience 25% to 35% declines in portfolio value during the second half of 2008 that eviscerated the investment gains from the past several years. Notre Dame had weathered the crisis relatively well, but there were several key questions Malpass had to address. Should Notre Dame continue to make illiquid investments in the context of rising unfunded commitments relative to liquid funds? Was compensation adequate for the illiquidity of these types of investments? In relation to manager selection, how could the Notre Dame investment team continue to find the best managers to create alpha? To what extent would the performance of managers during the crisis be predictive of future performance in other portions of the economic cycle? How would the long-established industry terms of contract between clients and managers change going forward? Was there an opportunity for clients to negotiate better terms? These issues all needed to be addressed in the context of protecting the University's operating budget and supporting the mission of the institution.

Authors :: Andre F. Perold, Paul Buser

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Financial management, Performance measurement, Risk management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "The University of Notre Dame Endowment" written by Andre F. Perold, Paul Buser includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Notre Dame facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The University of Notre Dame Endowment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Performance measurement, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The University of Notre Dame Endowment casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The University of Notre Dame Endowment


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




Strengths The University of Notre Dame Endowment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Notre Dame in The University of Notre Dame Endowment Harvard Business Review case study are -

Strong track record of project management

– Notre Dame is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry

– The University of Notre Dame Endowment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Notre Dame to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Notre Dame to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Notre Dame 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 Notre Dame is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The University of Notre Dame Endowment Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Notre Dame in the sector have low bargaining power. The University of Notre Dame Endowment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Notre Dame to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Notre Dame 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 The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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

– Notre Dame has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Notre Dame 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.

Organizational Resilience of Notre Dame

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Notre Dame does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Diverse revenue streams

– Notre Dame is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Notre Dame 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 The University of Notre Dame Endowment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Innovation driven organization

– Notre Dame is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The University of Notre Dame Endowment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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.






Weaknesses The University of Notre Dame Endowment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The University of Notre Dame Endowment are -

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Notre Dame 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The University of Notre Dame Endowment, is just above the industry average. Notre Dame 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 The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Notre Dame is planning to shift buying processes online.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Notre Dame 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Notre Dame products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Notre Dame needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Notre Dame needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Need for greater diversity

– Notre Dame 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The University of Notre Dame Endowment, in the dynamic environment Notre Dame has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Notre Dame has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Notre Dame, firm in the HBR case study The University of Notre Dame Endowment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andre F. Perold, Paul Buser suggests that, Notre Dame 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Notre Dame 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 - The University of Notre Dame Endowment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.




Opportunities The University of Notre Dame Endowment | 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment are -

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 Notre Dame in the consumer business. Now Notre Dame can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Loyalty marketing

– Notre Dame 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Notre Dame 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Notre Dame can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Notre Dame 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Notre Dame to increase its market reach. Notre Dame 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Notre Dame 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Notre Dame has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Notre Dame to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The University of Notre Dame Endowment case study. Notre Dame 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 Notre Dame 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Notre Dame is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Notre Dame can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Finance & Accounting segment.

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 Notre Dame 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Notre Dame can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Notre Dame operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.




Threats The University of Notre Dame Endowment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The University of Notre Dame Endowment are -

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Notre Dame 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Notre Dame 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.

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 Notre Dame in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Notre Dame 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.

Increasing wage structure of Notre Dame

– 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 Notre Dame.

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 Notre Dame.

Environmental challenges

– Notre Dame 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. Notre Dame can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Notre Dame can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Notre Dame is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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 University of Notre Dame Endowment, Notre Dame 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 .

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 Notre Dame business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Notre Dame has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Notre Dame 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.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of The University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 University of Notre Dame Endowment 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 Notre Dame needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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