Swot Analysis of "From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co." written by James K. Sebenius, David T. Kotchen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stanley Morgan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stanley Morgan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stanley Morgan 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stanley Morgan
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 Stanley Morgan
Strengths From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stanley Morgan in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Stanley Morgan 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stanley Morgan 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stanley Morgan in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Stanley Morgan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stanley Morgan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Stanley Morgan
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stanley Morgan does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Stanley Morgan has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stanley Morgan to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stanley Morgan to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Stanley Morgan in the sector have low bargaining power. From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Stanley Morgan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Stanley Morgan 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 Stanley Morgan is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Stanley Morgan 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. - 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
– Stanley Morgan 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. are -
Need for greater diversity
– Stanley Morgan 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co., it seems that the employees of Stanley Morgan 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Stanley Morgan 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 - From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stanley Morgan is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co., is just above the industry average. Stanley Morgan 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.
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 Stanley Morgan supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co., it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stanley Morgan vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Stanley Morgan products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stanley Morgan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stanley Morgan 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stanley Morgan 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Stanley Morgan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stanley Morgan, firm in the HBR case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. | 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Stanley Morgan has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Stanley Morgan to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. case study. Stanley Morgan can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Stanley Morgan 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stanley Morgan 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stanley Morgan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Stanley Morgan in the consumer business. Now Stanley Morgan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stanley Morgan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stanley Morgan 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. Stanley Morgan 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. Stanley Morgan 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stanley Morgan 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stanley Morgan 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 Stanley Morgan to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Stanley Morgan 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stanley Morgan 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Stanley Morgan 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Stanley Morgan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. are -
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.
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. Stanley Morgan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stanley Morgan 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.
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 Stanley Morgan.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Stanley Morgan 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stanley Morgan 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Stanley Morgan with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Stanley Morgan 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 Stanley Morgan is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stanley Morgan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stanley Morgan 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stanley Morgan 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co., Stanley Morgan 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 .
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 Stanley Morgan business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 From Wall Street to Main Street: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. 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 Stanley Morgan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.