FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming
In early January 2016, FinSAS Financial Research Inc. needed to recruit more programmers because of its rapid growth. However, the average annual salary for financial programmers had been increasing significantly. The financial research company decided that it needed advice from a "programming strategist" from the software engineering industry. The company contacted such a strategist to build a reusable module for use by all company programmers, to avoid coding the same functionality over and over. FinSAS provided access to some of its programs and asked the strategist to prepare a proposal for the project. Would the strategist's proposal meet the needs of FinSAS and its programmers?
Swot Analysis of "FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming" written by Zhichuan Frank Li includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Finsas Programmers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Data, Financial management, Financial markets and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Finsas Programmers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Finsas Programmers 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Finsas Programmers
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 Finsas Programmers
Strengths FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Finsas Programmers in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Finsas Programmers in the sector have low bargaining power. FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Finsas Programmers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Finsas Programmers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Finsas Programmers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Finsas Programmers 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Finsas Programmers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Finsas Programmers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Finsas Programmers 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 Finsas Programmers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Finsas Programmers 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 Zhichuan Frank Li 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Finsas Programmers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Finsas Programmers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Finsas Programmers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Finsas Programmers 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Finsas Programmers 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. Finsas Programmers 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 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 Finsas Programmers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Finsas Programmers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Finsas Programmers, firm in the HBR case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Finsas Programmers is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 Finsas Programmers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Zhichuan Frank Li suggests that, Finsas Programmers 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Finsas Programmers has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Finsas Programmers 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Finsas Programmers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Finsas Programmers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Finsas Programmers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 Finsas Programmers 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming | 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Finsas Programmers 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Finsas Programmers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Finsas Programmers to increase its market reach. Finsas Programmers 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Finsas Programmers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Finsas Programmers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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
– Finsas Programmers 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Finsas Programmers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Finsas Programmers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Finsas Programmers can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Finsas Programmers 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 Finsas Programmers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Finsas Programmers 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.
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. Finsas Programmers 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. Finsas Programmers 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Finsas Programmers 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Finsas Programmers 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.
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 Finsas Programmers 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.
Threats FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Finsas Programmers 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Finsas Programmers 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.
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 Finsas Programmers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Finsas Programmers 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming .
Increasing wage structure of Finsas Programmers
– 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 Finsas Programmers.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Finsas Programmers 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Finsas Programmers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Finsas Programmers 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming, Finsas Programmers 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 .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Finsas Programmers 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Finsas Programmers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Finsas Programmers 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Finsas Programmers 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 FinSAS Financial Research: Financial Data and SAS Programming 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 Finsas Programmers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
