Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008)
This case examines the challenges Citibank is facing in implementing e-business strategies. The focus is on how Citibank has developed an e-business strategy that fits with its corporate business strategy. Citibank not only needs to use information technology to improve internal operations and provide more efficient customer services at lower costs, but it also needs to ensure that its single, global online platform can serve the highly segmented market. At one end of the spectrum of the market are multinationals and top-level domestic corporations that operate sophisticated treasuries, and at the other end are companies and small- and medium-sized businesses that are not yet ready to upgrade or transform their systems.
Swot Analysis of "Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008)" written by Ali Farhoomand, Minyi Huang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Citibank Treasuries facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Internet, IT, Operations management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Citibank Treasuries, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Citibank Treasuries
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 Citibank Treasuries
Strengths Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Citibank Treasuries in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Citibank Treasuries to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Citibank Treasuries to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Citibank Treasuries has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Citibank Treasuries is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank Treasuries 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.
Analytics focus
– Citibank Treasuries 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 Ali Farhoomand, Minyi Huang 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank Treasuries in the sector have low bargaining power. Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Citibank Treasuries to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank Treasuries in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Citibank Treasuries in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Citibank Treasuries is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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)
– Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) - 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Citibank Treasuries 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Citibank Treasuries 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008), is just above the industry average. Citibank Treasuries 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Citibank Treasuries is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Citibank Treasuries 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Citibank Treasuries 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.
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 Citibank Treasuries supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Citibank Treasuries vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Citibank Treasuries, firm in the HBR case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank Treasuries 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali Farhoomand, Minyi Huang suggests that, Citibank Treasuries 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) HBR case study mentions - Citibank Treasuries 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.
Opportunities Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) | 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Citibank Treasuries 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 Citibank Treasuries to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Citibank Treasuries to increase its market reach. Citibank Treasuries 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.
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. Citibank Treasuries can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Citibank Treasuries is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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, Citibank Treasuries 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, Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008), 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 Citibank Treasuries can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Citibank Treasuries 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. Citibank Treasuries 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Citibank Treasuries 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Citibank Treasuries in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Citibank Treasuries 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Citibank Treasuries can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Citibank Treasuries 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, Citibank Treasuries can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Citibank Treasuries operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Threats Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) are -
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. Citibank Treasuries needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Citibank Treasuries can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Citibank Treasuries
– 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 Citibank Treasuries.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Citibank Treasuries 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.
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. Citibank Treasuries 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008), Citibank Treasuries 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 .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Citibank Treasuries 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.
Environmental challenges
– Citibank Treasuries 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. Citibank Treasuries can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Citibank Treasuries with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Citibank Treasuries has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Citibank Treasuries 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Citibank Treasuries 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.
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 Citibank Treasuries business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank's e-Business Strategy for Global Corporate Banking (2008) 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 Citibank Treasuries needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.