The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies
This case is designed to provide an elementary introduction to options and option pricing for beginning finance students. Analysis of the case requires students to compare the prices of put and call options with various exercise prices and maturity dates on two equities (JPMorgan Chase and Facebook) that had identical closing stock prices on January 14, 2014 but very different volatilities. These common features and differences enable students to do a series of static comparisons that reveal the impact of a change in one determinant of an option's price while holding other factors constant. The business setting involves a mutual fund board considering the initiation of an option trading strategy to enhance the risk-adjusted performance of the fund and, through covered call writing, to increase earned income that can be used to support cash dividend distributions. Although the administrative situation is fictional, the data contained in the case are real. The case is best positioned at the beginning of a course module on derivatives and risk management.
Swot Analysis of "The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies" written by W. Carl Kester includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dividend Option facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Financial markets, Managing uncertainty, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dividend Option, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dividend Option 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dividend Option
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 Dividend Option
Strengths The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dividend Option in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dividend Option in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dividend Option 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dividend Option to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dividend Option to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dividend Option digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dividend Option 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Dividend Option is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 Dividend Option 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.
Learning organization
- Dividend Option 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 Dividend Option is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dividend Option in the sector have low bargaining power. The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dividend Option to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dividend Option 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Dividend Option has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Dividend Option 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 Dividend Option in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dividend Option 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. Dividend Option 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dividend Option is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Dividend Option needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dividend Option to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dividend Option 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 - The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dividend Option 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dividend Option 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies, is just above the industry average. Dividend Option 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies, in the dynamic environment Dividend Option has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dividend Option has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies HBR case study mentions - Dividend Option takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dividend Option, firm in the HBR case study The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dividend Option 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 Dividend Option has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies | 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dividend Option 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dividend Option to increase its market reach. Dividend Option 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dividend Option 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dividend Option to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dividend Option 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.
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. Dividend Option can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Dividend Option can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dividend Option 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, The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Dividend Option can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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. Dividend Option 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. Dividend Option 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dividend Option 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dividend Option is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Dividend Option 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.
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 Dividend Option in the consumer business. Now Dividend Option can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies are -
Increasing wage structure of Dividend Option
– 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 Dividend Option.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dividend Option 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies .
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 Dividend Option business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Dividend Option 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies, Dividend Option 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dividend Option 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dividend Option 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.
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 Dividend Option.
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 Dividend Option in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Dividend Option needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dividend Option has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dividend Option 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 Dividend Option with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dividend Option 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 The Galaxy Dividend Income Growth Fund's Option Investment Strategies 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 Dividend Option needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
