Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility
In January 2003, Mr. Ho Kwok Ping ("KP"), the cofounder and chairman of Singapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, was debating whether to take his privately held company public. The company developed and operated several boutique resorts and spas around Asia. What set the company apart in the marketplace, and was an integral part of the Banyan Tree brand, was its strong commitment to protecting the environment, both physical and human, driven by its leaders' passionate belief in behaving ethically and responsibly. The company had major plans for expansion in Asia and around the world. These expansion plans required financing, and one obvious option was to take the company public through an IPO. But KP had his doubts about an IPO. Would investors feel as passionately as he did about the company's pro-environment values and initiatives? Or would he and his managers have to compromise their values to deliver acceptable returns to the company's shareholders? In the current economic climate in Asia and globally, was it the right time to go public?
Swot Analysis of "Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility" written by Eliza Tse, Pauline Ng, Kay Ross includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Banyan Tree facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Growth strategy, IPO, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Banyan Tree, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Banyan Tree
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 Banyan Tree
Strengths Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Banyan Tree in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Banyan Tree
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Banyan Tree does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Banyan Tree has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Banyan Tree to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Banyan Tree is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Banyan Tree 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.
Learning organization
- Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Banyan Tree to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Banyan Tree to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Banyan Tree is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Banyan Tree is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Banyan Tree is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Banyan Tree in the sector have low bargaining power. Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Banyan Tree to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Banyan Tree digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Banyan Tree 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.
Weaknesses Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, is just above the industry average. Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Banyan Tree vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Eliza Tse, Pauline Ng, Kay Ross suggests that, Banyan Tree 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, in the dynamic environment Banyan Tree has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Banyan Tree 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, Banyan Tree is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Banyan Tree 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Banyan Tree has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Banyan Tree 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 - Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Banyan Tree products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Banyan Tree needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility | 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Banyan Tree 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Banyan Tree is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Banyan Tree 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, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Banyan Tree can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Banyan Tree to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Banyan Tree can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Banyan Tree can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Banyan Tree operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Banyan Tree to increase its market reach. Banyan Tree 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Banyan Tree 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.
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. Banyan Tree can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Banyan Tree 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Banyan Tree 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.
Threats Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Environmental challenges
– Banyan Tree 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. Banyan Tree can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility, Banyan Tree 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 .
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. Banyan Tree 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Banyan Tree 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.
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 Banyan Tree.
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. Banyan Tree needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution 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, Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility .
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. Banyan Tree can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Banyan Tree 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Banyan Tree 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
– Banyan Tree 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 Banyan Tree with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts: Gauging Investors' Views on Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Banyan Tree needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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