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Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO


Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley; in establishing a financial model for the firm; in operations and leadership; and in investor relations under Regulation FD. Goldman, who had presided over rapid growth at several other technology firms before joining Siebel three years earlier, must adapt to Siebel's new leadership and operating environment.

Authors :: Malcolm P. Baker, Lauren Barley

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Financial management, Leadership, Regulation, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO" written by Malcolm P. Baker, Lauren Barley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Siebel Goldman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Leadership, Regulation, Technology and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Siebel Goldman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Siebel Goldman
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 Siebel Goldman




Strengths Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Siebel Goldman in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

– Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Goldman in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Siebel Goldman 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Siebel Goldman 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Siebel Goldman in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Goldman is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Strong track record of project management

– Siebel Goldman is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Innovation driven organization

– Siebel Goldman is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High brand equity

– Siebel Goldman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Siebel Goldman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Organizational Resilience of Siebel Goldman

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Siebel Goldman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Siebel Goldman in the sector have low bargaining power. Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Siebel Goldman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Goldman 's lucrative customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Siebel Goldman is planning to shift buying processes online.

Lack of clear differentiation of Siebel Goldman products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Siebel Goldman needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Malcolm P. Baker, Lauren Barley suggests that, Siebel Goldman 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO, is just above the industry average. Siebel Goldman 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 star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Goldman has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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 Siebel Goldman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Siebel Goldman vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Need for greater diversity

– Siebel Goldman 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Siebel Goldman, firm in the HBR case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Siebel Goldman has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.




Opportunities Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO | 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO are -

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Siebel Goldman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Siebel Goldman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO case study. Siebel Goldman can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Siebel Goldman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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.

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. Siebel Goldman can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Siebel Goldman 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Siebel Goldman 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

– Siebel Goldman can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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

– Siebel Goldman 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Siebel Goldman can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

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. Siebel Goldman 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. Siebel Goldman 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Goldman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Siebel Goldman can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Siebel Goldman 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, Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Siebel Goldman to increase its market reach. Siebel Goldman 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.




Threats Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO are -

Regulatory challenges

– Siebel Goldman needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Finance & Accounting industry regulations.

Environmental challenges

– Siebel Goldman 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. Siebel Goldman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Siebel Goldman 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Siebel Goldman 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.

Increasing wage structure of Siebel Goldman

– 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 Siebel Goldman.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Siebel Goldman 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO .

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. Siebel Goldman 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Siebel Goldman in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Siebel Goldman has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Siebel Goldman 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Siebel Goldman is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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. Siebel Goldman can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO, Siebel Goldman 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 .




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO 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 Siebel Goldman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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