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UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision


In April 2014, a research analyst for UR Investing, an investment group from the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan, Canada, was contemplating the decision of investing in a real estate investment trust (REIT). The decision had strategic implications because it would affect the risk profile of the student-managed fund. The analyst was given the task of evaluating the H&R REIT in particular and estimating a target price for H&R's units. He had to carefully weigh the benefits in terms of returns generated against the risk of taking a position in the REIT. He had to analyze the strategic value of investing in REITs and decide whether to recommend that UR Investing should buy H&R units.

Authors :: Walid Busaba, Saqib A. Khan

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Financial management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision" written by Walid Busaba, Saqib A. Khan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ur Reit facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision


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




Strengths UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Ur Reit in UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Ur Reit 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Ur Reit in the sector have low bargaining power. UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ur Reit to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High brand equity

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Ur Reit 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.

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ur Reit digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ur Reit 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.

Learning organization

- Ur Reit 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 Ur Reit is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of Ur Reit

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Ur Reit 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision - 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

– Ur Reit has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Ur Reit 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.






Weaknesses UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision are -

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 Ur Reit supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ur Reit vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision, in the dynamic environment Ur Reit has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ur Reit has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ur Reit is planning to shift buying processes online.

Need for greater diversity

– Ur Reit has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision HBR case study mentions - Ur Reit 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 Ur Reit 's lucrative customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision, 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Ur Reit, firm in the HBR case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 Ur Reit has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ur Reit 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision | 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Ur Reit 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ur Reit to increase its market reach. Ur Reit 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ur Reit 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.

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 Ur Reit 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ur Reit 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.

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. Ur Reit can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Ur Reit 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ur Reit to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Increase in government spending

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

Buying journey improvements

– Ur Reit can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Ur Reit 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Ur Reit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ur Reit to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision case study. Ur Reit can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ur Reit is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Ur Reit 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.




Threats UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision are -

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. Ur Reit 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 dependence on third party suppliers

– Ur Reit 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

– Ur Reit 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.

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.

Environmental challenges

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

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision, Ur Reit 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 .

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. Ur Reit can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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.

Increasing wage structure of Ur Reit

– 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 Ur Reit.

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. Ur Reit 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

– Ur Reit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ur Reit 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Ur Reit 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 UR Investing: The H&R REIT Decision 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 Ur Reit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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