Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version
LFG reorganizes its business in order to improve customer intimacy. However, to implement the strategy, they need to effect significant changes in the skills of their salespeople. This case series straddles human resource management, corporate strategy, and sales management by exploring the link between a shift in the firm's overall strategy (customer intimacy), the structural implementation of this strategy in the form of the creation of a new distribution company and, finally, the transformation of the selling approach through skills assessment and development. The (A) case describes the firm's strategic position as the "manufacturer" of three primary product lines--annuities, insurance, and mutual funds--which they sell to banks, broker/dealers, and independent planners. Most of their customers have just one of these products 'on the shelf.' In 2000, they create Lincoln Financial Distributors (LFD) which will be responsible for the wholesaling of all of these products. The case ends by asking the students to (a) react to this idea and (b) formulate a plan for its implementation. Simply taking salespeople away from their product group and housing them side-by-side with other salespeople selling other products is unlikely to create true customer intimacy. Wes Thompson, LFD's President and Kim Miner, the Human Resources VP, undertake a sweeping effort in which they create a "competency model," denoting precisely what they want their salespeople to be good at, assessing the sales force on these dimensions, and then hiring or training in order to get where they want to be. The (B) case provides rich detail of the model, the assessment approach and the results of the assessments. As the (C) case lays out, the results are stunning in terms of their relationships as well as from a financial perspective. The (C) then ends by offering a strategy for "Act II'" significantly expanding the number of salespeople at LFD.
Swot Analysis of "Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version" written by David B. Godes, David Lane includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Salespeople Lfd facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Marketing, Organizational structure, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Salespeople Lfd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Salespeople Lfd 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Salespeople Lfd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Salespeople Lfd
Strengths Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Salespeople Lfd in Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Salespeople Lfd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Salespeople Lfd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Salespeople Lfd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Salespeople Lfd 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Salespeople Lfd is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version 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.
High brand equity
– Salespeople Lfd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Salespeople Lfd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Salespeople Lfd 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Salespeople Lfd 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Salespeople Lfd in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Salespeople Lfd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Salespeople Lfd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Salespeople Lfd 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 Salespeople Lfd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Salespeople Lfd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Salespeople Lfd 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.
Analytics focus
– Salespeople Lfd 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 David B. Godes, David Lane 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.
Weaknesses Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Salespeople Lfd has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Salespeople Lfd even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Salespeople Lfd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Salespeople Lfd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Salespeople Lfd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Salespeople Lfd to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Salespeople Lfd 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David B. Godes, David Lane suggests that, Salespeople Lfd 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Salespeople Lfd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Salespeople Lfd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Salespeople Lfd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Salespeople Lfd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Salespeople Lfd 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 - Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Salespeople Lfd, firm in the HBR case study Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Salespeople Lfd 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Salespeople Lfd 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.
Opportunities Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Salespeople Lfd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Salespeople Lfd to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version case study. Salespeople Lfd can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Salespeople Lfd in the consumer business. Now Salespeople Lfd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Salespeople Lfd can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Salespeople Lfd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Salespeople Lfd 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Salespeople Lfd 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, Salespeople Lfd 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, Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Salespeople Lfd to increase its market reach. Salespeople Lfd 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.
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 Salespeople Lfd 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Salespeople Lfd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Salespeople Lfd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Salespeople Lfd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Salespeople Lfd 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Salespeople Lfd 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 Salespeople Lfd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version are -
Environmental challenges
– Salespeople Lfd 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. Salespeople Lfd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
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 Salespeople Lfd in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline 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 Salespeople Lfd.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Salespeople Lfd 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Salespeople Lfd in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, Spanish Version, Salespeople Lfd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Increasing wage structure of Salespeople Lfd
– 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 Salespeople Lfd.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Salespeople Lfd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Salespeople Lfd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Salespeople Lfd 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.
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. Salespeople Lfd 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Salespeople Lfd is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Lincoln Financial Group (B): Making LFD a Reality, 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 Salespeople Lfd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.