Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video
Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of Wisconsin Central, and Carl Freebback, general partner of Berkshire Partners, engage in a question and answer session with the students.
Authors :: Michael C. Jensen, Willy Burkhardt, Brian Barry
Swot Analysis of "Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video" written by Michael C. Jensen, Willy Burkhardt, Brian Barry includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Berkshire Wisconsin facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Mergers & acquisitions and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions,
wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Berkshire Wisconsin, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Berkshire Wisconsin
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 Berkshire Wisconsin
Strengths Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Berkshire Wisconsin in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Berkshire Wisconsin is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Berkshire Wisconsin is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Berkshire Wisconsin is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Berkshire Wisconsin is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Michael C. Jensen, Willy Burkhardt, Brian Barry 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Berkshire Wisconsin in the sector have low bargaining power. Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Berkshire Wisconsin to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Berkshire Wisconsin to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Berkshire Wisconsin to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Berkshire Wisconsin has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Berkshire Wisconsin to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Berkshire Wisconsin is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael C. Jensen, Willy Burkhardt, Brian Barry suggests that, Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Berkshire Wisconsin has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Berkshire Wisconsin 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video, in the dynamic environment Berkshire Wisconsin has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Berkshire Wisconsin has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Berkshire Wisconsin products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Berkshire Wisconsin needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Berkshire Wisconsin supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Berkshire Wisconsin vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Berkshire Wisconsin has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video, is just above the industry average. Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Berkshire Wisconsin is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Opportunities Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video | 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Berkshire Wisconsin can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Berkshire Wisconsin in the consumer business. Now Berkshire Wisconsin can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Berkshire Wisconsin 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. Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
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. Berkshire Wisconsin can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Berkshire Wisconsin can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Berkshire Wisconsin to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Berkshire Wisconsin to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Berkshire Wisconsin to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
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. Berkshire Wisconsin can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Berkshire Wisconsin is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Berkshire Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video .
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 Berkshire Wisconsin business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Berkshire Wisconsin has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
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. Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
Environmental challenges
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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. Berkshire Wisconsin can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video, Berkshire Wisconsin 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Berkshire Wisconsin 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.
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 Berkshire Wisconsin in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video 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 Berkshire Wisconsin needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.