Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate
In April 2015, Shannon Enberg, Managing Director of Real Assets at the United Kingdom Telecom and Technology Pension Scheme (UKTTPS), received a startling memo from the fund's board of directors. In a nutshell, the board sought to reduce the fund's multimillion-pound annual expenditure on management fees by asking all managing directors to drastically cut the number of private managers being used to manage UKTTPS assets. Enberg was told to cut the number of her external managers in half, but given the illiquidity of her private equity investments in commercial property, she would be allowed to make the decision to rehire each manager (or not) as each of her investments matured. UKTTPS had two investments in closed-end property funds that had just liquidated their final holdings at the end of 2014. Both managers had new funds being raised that could recycle the investment proceeds, but now that she was being forced to cut back, Enberg wondered whether either was really worth rehiring.
Swot Analysis of "Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate" written by Craig Furfine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Enberg Ukttps facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial finance, Financial analysis, Financial management, Performance measurement and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Enberg Ukttps, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Enberg Ukttps 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Enberg Ukttps
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 Enberg Ukttps
Strengths Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Enberg Ukttps in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Enberg Ukttps
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Enberg Ukttps does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Enberg Ukttps in the sector have low bargaining power. Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Enberg Ukttps to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Enberg Ukttps 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Enberg Ukttps digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Enberg Ukttps 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
- Enberg Ukttps 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 Enberg Ukttps is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Enberg Ukttps has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Enberg Ukttps to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Enberg Ukttps has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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.
Analytics focus
– Enberg Ukttps 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Enberg Ukttps 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Enberg Ukttps has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Enberg Ukttps has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Enberg Ukttps 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Enberg Ukttps is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Enberg Ukttps, firm in the HBR case study Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Enberg Ukttps 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 - Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Enberg Ukttps 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Craig Furfine suggests that, Enberg Ukttps 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate, 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Enberg Ukttps has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Enberg Ukttps has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High 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 Enberg Ukttps supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Enberg Ukttps vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Enberg Ukttps 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate, it seems that the employees of Enberg Ukttps 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Enberg Ukttps 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.
Opportunities Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate | 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Enberg Ukttps can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Enberg Ukttps operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
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. Enberg Ukttps can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Enberg Ukttps 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Enberg Ukttps can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Enberg Ukttps can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Enberg Ukttps 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Enberg Ukttps is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Enberg Ukttps 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Enberg Ukttps 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, Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Enberg Ukttps 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Enberg Ukttps 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.
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 Enberg Ukttps in the consumer business. Now Enberg Ukttps can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Enberg Ukttps 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. Enberg Ukttps 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.
Threats Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Enberg Ukttps 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate .
Environmental challenges
– Enberg Ukttps 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. Enberg Ukttps can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Enberg Ukttps 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.
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. Enberg Ukttps can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Enberg Ukttps in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Enberg Ukttps 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Enberg Ukttps 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 Enberg Ukttps.
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. Enberg Ukttps needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate, Enberg Ukttps 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Enberg Ukttps is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Cause and Effect: Performance Attribution in Commercial Real Estate 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 Enberg Ukttps needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.