New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development
Traces the economic development of New York City from its founding in the 17th century through 2012. Focuses on the decisions made by New York City officials, past and present, highlighting the challenges of economic development at the city level. Enables deep examination of the interdependence and interrelation of economic policies at the city, state and federal level, and explores the role of economic and cluster performance. Detailed historical economic and social data allows for an evaluation of policy results. The case finishes highlighting the main economic challenges the city was facing in 2012.
Authors :: Michael E. Porter, Christian H.M. Ketels, Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo
Swot Analysis of "New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development" written by Michael E. Porter, Christian H.M. Ketels, Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that City Economic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business law, Competition, Corporate governance, Crisis management, Economics, Growth strategy, Policy, Recession, Strategy execution and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the City Economic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which City Economic 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of City Economic
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 City Economic
Strengths New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of City Economic in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– City Economic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. City Economic has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the City Economic 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.
Strong track record of project management
– City Economic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– City Economic 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– City Economic 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 City Economic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– City Economic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of City Economic
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that City Economic does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For City Economic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. City Economic 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.
Learning organization
- City Economic 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 City Economic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that City Economic 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– City Economic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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.
High brand equity
– City Economic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled City Economic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development are -
Lack of clear differentiation of City Economic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, City Economic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, City Economic has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. City Economic even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 City Economic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development, is just above the industry average. City Economic 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 City Economic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left City Economic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as City Economic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development HBR case study mentions - City Economic 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of City Economic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. City Economic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help City Economic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development, in the dynamic environment City Economic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. City Economic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– City Economic 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, City Economic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development | 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development are -
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. City Economic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. City Economic 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. City Economic 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for City Economic 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of City Economic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help City Economic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development case study. City Economic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– City Economic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, City Economic 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, City Economic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. City Economic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for City Economic 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 City Economic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, City Economic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that City Economic 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 City Economic to increase its market reach. City Economic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– City Economic 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at City Economic 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Threats New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development are -
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. City Economic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 City Economic.
Environmental challenges
– City Economic 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. City Economic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Regulatory challenges
– City Economic 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on City Economic 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents City Economic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. City Economic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for City Economic 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, City Economic 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development .
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 City Economic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– City Economic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, City Economic 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– City Economic 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development 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 City Economic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
