An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores
A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are complicated by weak takeover defenses of their corporate boards, hedge fund ownership stake within both companies, and potential anti-trust risk. Meanwhile, the third party, the activist hedge fund, is turning up the heat in planning their next move.
Swot Analysis of "An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores" written by Guhan Subramanian, Kaitlyn Szydlowski includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Activist Hedge facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Activist Hedge, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Activist Hedge 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Activist Hedge
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 Activist Hedge
Strengths An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Activist Hedge in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge 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)
– Activist Hedge 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Activist Hedge to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Activist Hedge to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Activist Hedge is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Activist Hedge 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Activist Hedge is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Activist Hedge 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Activist Hedge in the sector have low bargaining power. An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Activist Hedge to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Activist Hedge has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Activist Hedge is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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.
Analytics focus
– Activist Hedge 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 Guhan Subramanian, Kaitlyn Szydlowski 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.
Weaknesses An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Activist Hedge 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Activist Hedge is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Activist Hedge needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Activist Hedge to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Activist Hedge, firm in the HBR case study An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Activist Hedge 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, Activist Hedge is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Guhan Subramanian, Kaitlyn Szydlowski suggests that, Activist Hedge 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 Activist Hedge 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Activist Hedge 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.
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 Activist Hedge supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Activist Hedge vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Activist Hedge 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Activist Hedge products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Activist Hedge needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores | 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores are -
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 Activist Hedge 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Activist Hedge 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Activist Hedge 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Activist Hedge to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Activist Hedge can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Activist Hedge can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Activist Hedge operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Activist Hedge 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Activist Hedge 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Activist Hedge can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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.
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. Activist Hedge 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. Activist Hedge 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.
Threats An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Activist Hedge is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Activist Hedge.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Activist Hedge 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 Activist Hedge business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Activist Hedge 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. Activist Hedge can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Activist Hedge 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Activist Hedge has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Activist Hedge 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.
Increasing wage structure of Activist Hedge
– 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 Activist Hedge.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Activist Hedge 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores, Activist Hedge 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 .
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. Activist Hedge can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores 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 Activist Hedge needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.