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International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project


Equate Petrochemical Co. (Equate) is a joint venture between Union Carbide Corp. and Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) for the construction of a $2 billion petrochemical plant in Kuwait. The sponsors began construction in August 1994, using a bridge loan, and are in search of permanent, nonrecourse finance. As part of the permanent financing, the sponsors want to use a tranche of Islamic finance--funds that are invested in accordance with Islamic religious principles known as Sharia. The sponsors hired Kuwait Finance House which, in turn, approached The International Investor (TII is a Kuwaiti investment bank) to assist in structuring and underwriting the Islamic tranche. The case is set in early December 1995, as members of The Institutional Investor's Structured Finance Group are deciding which Islamic structure to use, how to resolve various conflicts between the Islamic and conventional tranches, and how large a commitment to make on behalf of their investors.

Authors :: Benjamin C. Esty, Mathew Mateo Millett

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Financial management, Organizational culture, Project management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project" written by Benjamin C. Esty, Mathew Mateo Millett includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Islamic Equate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Organizational culture, Project management and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project


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




Strengths International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Islamic Equate in International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project Harvard Business Review case study are -

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Innovation driven organization

– Islamic Equate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Islamic Equate 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Islamic Equate 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.

Strong track record of project management

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

Superior customer experience

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

Organizational Resilience of Islamic Equate

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

High brand equity

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Islamic Equate is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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)

– Islamic Equate 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Islamic Equate digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Islamic Equate has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.






Weaknesses International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Islamic Equate 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. Islamic Equate 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 Islamic Equate 's lucrative customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Islamic Equate 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Islamic Equate, firm in the HBR case study International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Islamic Equate has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Benjamin C. Esty, Mathew Mateo Millett suggests that, Islamic Equate 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Islamic Equate 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Islamic Equate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Islamic Equate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Islamic Equate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Islamic Equate 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project, 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Islamic Equate is planning to shift buying processes online.




Opportunities International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project | 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Islamic Equate can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Islamic Equate 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Islamic Equate 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, International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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. Islamic Equate can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Islamic Equate 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Islamic Equate 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Islamic Equate 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Islamic Equate to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Islamic Equate in the consumer business. Now Islamic Equate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Islamic Equate 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 Finance & Accounting segment.

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. Islamic Equate 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. Islamic Equate 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Islamic Equate can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Islamic Equate operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Islamic Equate 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.




Threats International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Islamic Equate 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.

Shortening product life cycle

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

Increasing wage structure of Islamic Equate

– 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 Islamic Equate.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Islamic Equate can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Islamic Equate with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Islamic Equate 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Islamic Equate 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.

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. Islamic Equate needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project, Islamic Equate 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 .

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Islamic Equate in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Islamic Equate 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.

Environmental challenges

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

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. Islamic Equate 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 International Investor: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project 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 Islamic Equate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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