Case Study Description of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version
In 2002, a massive accounting fraud and corporate looting scandal involving the founding Rigas family made Adelphia the 11th largest bankruptcy case in history, and the third--after WorldCom and Enron--among those triggered by fraud. Set in 2005, when Adelphia is contemplating several options to emerge from bankruptcy, including a $17.6 billion cash-and-stock offer from Time Warner and Comcast, a $17.1 billion cash-only offer from Cablevision, and a $15 billion cash-only offer from KKR and Providence. The fact that both Comcast and Cablevision are themselves family-controlled and with a large wedge between the family's ownership and control rights further complicates the decision.
Swot Analysis of "Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version" written by Stuart C. Gilson, Belen Villalonga includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Adelphia Cablevision facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Financial management, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adelphia Cablevision, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adelphia Cablevision
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 Adelphia Cablevision
Strengths Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adelphia Cablevision in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Adelphia Cablevision digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Adelphia Cablevision has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Adelphia Cablevision is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Adelphia Cablevision is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Adelphia Cablevision has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Adelphia Cablevision in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 Stuart C. Gilson, Belen Villalonga 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Adelphia Cablevision to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Adelphia Cablevision to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Cablevision is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version are -
Need for greater diversity
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 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 Adelphia Cablevision supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Adelphia Cablevision vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Adelphia Cablevision has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Adelphia Cablevision has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, it seems that the employees of Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Adelphia Cablevision has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Adelphia Cablevision 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stuart C. Gilson, Belen Villalonga suggests that, Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Adelphia Cablevision is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version | 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version are -
Loyalty marketing
– Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Adelphia Cablevision can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Adelphia Cablevision can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Adelphia Cablevision operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Adelphia Cablevision can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Adelphia Cablevision is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Adelphia Cablevision to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Adelphia Cablevision 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, Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Adelphia Cablevision 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.
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. Adelphia Cablevision 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. Adelphia Cablevision 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.
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. Adelphia Cablevision can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Adelphia Cablevision can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Adelphia Cablevision 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.
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. Adelphia Cablevision can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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
– Adelphia Cablevision 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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 Adelphia Cablevision business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Adelphia Cablevision with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Adelphia Cablevision 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version .
Increasing wage structure of Adelphia Cablevision
– 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 Adelphia Cablevision.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version, Adelphia Cablevision 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Adelphia Cablevision 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.
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 Adelphia Cablevision in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Adelphia Cablevision needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Adelphia Cablevision 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy, Spanish Version 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 Adelphia Cablevision needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
