Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928
Meinhard and Salmon were joint venturers who had a 20-year lease on the Hotel Bristol in New York City. Salmon was the managing party. Four months before the lease was to end, the owner approached Salmon and offered to lease all the property, of which the Bristol was only a 25% part, him. The project was to require substantial capital expenditures, a rent increase of about six times over the prior rent, and a lease term that could reach 80 years under renewal options. Salmon kept this opportunity for himself. Meinhard wanted to participate; Salmon refused.
Swot Analysis of "Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928" written by Henry B. Reiling includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Salmon Meinhard facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Regulation and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Salmon Meinhard, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Salmon Meinhard 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Salmon Meinhard
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 Salmon Meinhard
Strengths Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Salmon Meinhard in Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Salmon Meinhard 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
– Salmon Meinhard 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 Henry B. Reiling 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 Salmon Meinhard 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.
Learning organization
- Salmon Meinhard 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 Salmon Meinhard is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Salmon Meinhard
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Salmon Meinhard does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Salmon Meinhard 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 Salmon Meinhard in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Salmon Meinhard 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Salmon Meinhard in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Salmon Meinhard in the sector have low bargaining power. Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Salmon Meinhard to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Salmon Meinhard 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 brand equity
– Salmon Meinhard has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Salmon Meinhard to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Salmon Meinhard 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Salmon Meinhard is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928, in the dynamic environment Salmon Meinhard has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Salmon Meinhard has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Salmon Meinhard is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Salmon Meinhard 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Salmon Meinhard products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Salmon Meinhard needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Henry B. Reiling suggests that, Salmon Meinhard 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Salmon Meinhard 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Salmon Meinhard has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 HBR case study mentions - Salmon Meinhard 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Salmon Meinhard 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.
Opportunities Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 | 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Salmon Meinhard 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Salmon Meinhard 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.
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. Salmon Meinhard can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Salmon Meinhard can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Salmon Meinhard can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Salmon Meinhard operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Salmon Meinhard 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Salmon Meinhard to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Salmon Meinhard 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, Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Salmon Meinhard can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Finance & Accounting segment.
Manufacturing automation
– Salmon Meinhard can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
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. Salmon Meinhard can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Salmon Meinhard 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. Salmon Meinhard 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.
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 Salmon Meinhard in the consumer business. Now Salmon Meinhard can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Salmon Meinhard 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.
Threats Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 are -
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. Salmon Meinhard 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Salmon Meinhard 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.
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. Salmon Meinhard needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Salmon Meinhard with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Salmon Meinhard 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Salmon Meinhard 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Salmon Meinhard 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928, Salmon Meinhard 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Salmon Meinhard has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Salmon Meinhard 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Salmon Meinhard
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Salmon Meinhard.
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. Salmon Meinhard can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Salmon Meinhard business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Meinhard vs. Salmon: Court of Appeals of New York--1928 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 Salmon Meinhard needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.