Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development
Louise Dejan was a successful real estate developer operating throughout northeast England. The city council of her hometown of Newcastle faced a problem common to many areas: how to encourage private investment into less attractive areas. In August 2012, Newcastle's East Pilgrim Street neighborhood remained an eyesore, despite its great location between the city's Central Station and city hall. It was a natural place for Dejan to build a typical urban office building over street-level retail building. On a particularly attractive site sat an asbestos-contaminated building, which was a former home to the Bank of England. The costs of remediation had kept developers like Dejan away for many years. To encourage redevelopment, the Newcastle City Council had recently designated the East Pilgrim Street neighborhood an Accelerated Development Zone (ADZ). This gave Dejan access to Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a method by which public funds could be spent to encourage private sector redevelopment of designated parcels of land. After studying the details of TIF and the financial projections of a potential new development, Dejan had to decide whether she should be the first to redevelop property in this well-located but seemingly forgotten neighborhood.
Swot Analysis of "Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development" written by Craig Furfine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dejan Newcastle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Organizational structure and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dejan Newcastle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dejan Newcastle 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dejan Newcastle
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 Dejan Newcastle
Strengths Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dejan Newcastle in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dejan Newcastle 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dejan Newcastle is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dejan Newcastle in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Dejan Newcastle 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 Craig Furfine 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dejan Newcastle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dejan Newcastle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dejan Newcastle is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Dejan Newcastle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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.
Learning organization
- Dejan Newcastle 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 Dejan Newcastle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dejan Newcastle 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dejan Newcastle in the sector have low bargaining power. Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dejan Newcastle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Dejan Newcastle 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 Dejan Newcastle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Dejan Newcastle products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dejan Newcastle needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dejan Newcastle, firm in the HBR case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development, it seems that the employees of Dejan Newcastle don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dejan Newcastle is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development, in the dynamic environment Dejan Newcastle has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dejan Newcastle has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Dejan Newcastle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dejan Newcastle 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. Dejan Newcastle 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dejan Newcastle 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, Craig Furfine suggests that, Dejan Newcastle 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dejan Newcastle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Dejan Newcastle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dejan Newcastle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development are -
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 Dejan Newcastle in the consumer business. Now Dejan Newcastle can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Dejan Newcastle 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dejan Newcastle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dejan Newcastle 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dejan Newcastle 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dejan Newcastle 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dejan Newcastle to increase its market reach. Dejan Newcastle 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.
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 Dejan Newcastle 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dejan Newcastle 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Dejan Newcastle can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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.
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. Dejan Newcastle 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. Dejan Newcastle 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dejan Newcastle 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, Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dejan Newcastle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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.
Threats Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dejan Newcastle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dejan Newcastle 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dejan Newcastle with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dejan Newcastle is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial Development, Dejan Newcastle 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 .
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. Dejan Newcastle 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.
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. Dejan Newcastle needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Dejan Newcastle.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dejan Newcastle can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Environmental challenges
– Dejan Newcastle 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. Dejan Newcastle 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. Dejan Newcastle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dejan Newcastle 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 Dejan Newcastle
– 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 Dejan Newcastle.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Redeveloping Newcastle: Public Incentives to Spur Commercial 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 Dejan Newcastle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.