BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative
Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative for product #PON113.Bradford, an old New England industrial city, is experiencing an economic boom. The city has recently adopted a 'linkage agreement' policy, requiring developers to make once-off payments to the city to offset infrastructure and housing costs. Curry Corporation ('Curry') is the first developer to propose a major project under the new administration. After meeting with all the appropriate municipal agencies and citizen groups, the only major issue left unresolved in the proposed project is the appropriate size of the linkage payment that Curry should make to the city. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative" written by Program on Negotiation includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Curry Bradford facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Government, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Curry Bradford, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Curry Bradford 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Curry Bradford
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Curry Bradford
Strengths BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Curry Bradford in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Curry Bradford 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Curry Bradford is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Curry Bradford is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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)
– Curry Bradford 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Curry Bradford is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Curry Bradford
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Curry Bradford does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Curry Bradford has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Curry Bradford to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Curry Bradford in the sector have low bargaining power. BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Curry Bradford to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Curry Bradford 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 Curry Bradford 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
– Curry Bradford has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Curry Bradford 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 Curry Bradford in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Curry Bradford to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Curry Bradford to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Curry Bradford products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Curry Bradford needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, in the dynamic environment Curry Bradford has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Curry Bradford has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Curry Bradford 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Curry Bradford 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. Curry Bradford 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Curry Bradford 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Curry Bradford 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 - BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Curry Bradford supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Curry Bradford vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Program on Negotiation suggests that, Curry Bradford 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Curry Bradford is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Curry Bradford 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, is just above the industry average. Curry Bradford 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.
Opportunities BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative | 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative are -
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 Curry Bradford 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Curry Bradford 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Curry Bradford has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Curry Bradford to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative case study. Curry Bradford can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Curry Bradford can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Curry Bradford operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Curry Bradford 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Curry Bradford can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Curry Bradford to increase its market reach. Curry Bradford 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Curry Bradford can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Curry Bradford 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, BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, 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 Curry Bradford 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Curry Bradford can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Curry Bradford 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Curry Bradford 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. Curry Bradford 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.
Threats BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Curry Bradford 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Curry Bradford 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 Curry Bradford in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Curry Bradford 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. Curry Bradford can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Curry Bradford has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Curry Bradford needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Curry Bradford 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Curry Bradford is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Curry Bradford.
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 Curry Bradford business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Curry Bradford
– 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 Curry Bradford.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Curry Bradford 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. Curry Bradford needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 Curry Bradford needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.