A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common
A securitized small real estate investment vehicle fails and the many individual owners have to decide how to manage or dispose of the asset. This case follows Ruby Collins, a small investor, through the logic of Section 1031 Like Kind Exchanges as well as the consideration of Tenant in Common ownership. Tenancy in Common has some attractive aspects but its regulation falls between a security and a real estate investment. The risk and control characteristics also vary. This case explores both the valuation of the property and the logistical issues around managing it, and also the relationships between individuals who now find themselves business partners with no prior familiarity with each other.
Swot Analysis of "A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common" written by John D. Macomber, Kristian Peterson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ruby Collins facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ruby Collins, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ruby Collins 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ruby Collins
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ruby Collins
Strengths A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ruby Collins in A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ruby Collins 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ruby Collins is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Ruby Collins 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 John D. Macomber, Kristian Peterson 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ruby Collins
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ruby Collins does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ruby Collins digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ruby Collins 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ruby Collins to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ruby Collins to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ruby Collins in the sector have low bargaining power. A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ruby Collins to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ruby Collins 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ruby Collins 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ruby Collins is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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)
– Ruby Collins 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ruby Collins 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, Ruby Collins is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ruby Collins products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ruby Collins needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common HBR case study mentions - Ruby Collins 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ruby Collins 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ruby Collins 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. Ruby Collins 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ruby Collins 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 - A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John D. Macomber, Kristian Peterson suggests that, Ruby Collins 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ruby Collins is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Ruby Collins needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ruby Collins to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 Ruby Collins has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common | 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ruby Collins 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ruby Collins to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ruby Collins can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Ruby Collins can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Ruby Collins 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ruby Collins can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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.
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 Ruby Collins in the consumer business. Now Ruby Collins can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ruby Collins can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ruby Collins 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 Ruby Collins to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ruby Collins can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Ruby Collins 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 Ruby Collins has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ruby Collins to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common case study. Ruby Collins can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ruby Collins 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ruby Collins can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ruby Collins operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Threats A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ruby Collins with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Ruby Collins business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Ruby Collins needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ruby Collins 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common .
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 Ruby Collins.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ruby Collins is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Ruby Collins 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. Ruby Collins can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Ruby Collins 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ruby Collins can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Ruby Collins 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ruby Collins has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ruby Collins needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common, Ruby Collins may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common 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 Ruby Collins needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
