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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
Learning organization
- Curry Bradford 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 Curry Bradford is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Curry Bradford is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Curry Bradford digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Curry Bradford 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.
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.
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.
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.
Analytics focus
– Curry Bradford 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 Program on Negotiation 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.
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.
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.
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 -
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 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Curry Bradford, firm in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Curry Bradford 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Curry Bradford 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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Curry Bradford is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Curry Bradford 's lucrative customers.
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 -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Curry Bradford in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Curry Bradford can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Curry Bradford in the consumer business. Now Curry Bradford can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Curry Bradford 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 BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Curry Bradford to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Curry Bradford is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative 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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Curry Bradford 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 Curry Bradford to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Mayor's Representative, Curry Bradford may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Curry Bradford in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Curry Bradford 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Curry Bradford with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
