BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer's Representative SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer's Representative

Confidential Information for the Developer'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.

Authors :: Program on Negotiation

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Financial management, Government, Negotiations, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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 Developer's Representative casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer's Representative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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

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Strengths BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer's Representative Harvard Business Review case study are -

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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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.

Innovation driven organization

– Curry Bradford is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Curry Bradford 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.

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.

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 Developer'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.

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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Curry Bradford 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Curry Bradford in the sector have low bargaining power. BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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.

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Weaknesses BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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 Developer'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.

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.

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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Curry Bradford 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer's Representative can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Curry Bradford is planning to shift buying processes online.

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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Curry Bradford is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Curry Bradford needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Curry Bradford to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer's Representative, it seems that the employees of Curry Bradford 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer's Representative HBR case study mentions - Curry Bradford 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.

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Opportunities BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer's Representative are -

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.

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.

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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Curry Bradford can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Curry Bradford can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.

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.

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.

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. Curry Bradford can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Developer'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.

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Threats BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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.

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.

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.

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. Curry Bradford 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.

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.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Curry Bradford 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.

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.

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.

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 Developer's Representative .

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.

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.

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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of BRADFORD DEVELOPMENT - Confidential Information for the Developer'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 Developer'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 Developer'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 Developer'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 Developer'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.

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