The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A)
In 1837, President Martin Van Buren confronted a dilemma over the appropriate federal response to the recent panic of 1837 that seemed to undercut the policies and power of Andrew Jackson's "Democracy." Now, Van Buren must decide how best to harness the civic reaction in stabilizing the financial system and returning the American economy to growth. Van Buren's dilemma occurs in the midst of a dramatic regime shift in American politics. The rise of Whig politicians in reaction to the populist policies of Andrew Jackson marked 1837 as an historic pivot-point. It is useful to consider how the panic of 1837 contributed to that pivot and how the subsequent civic reaction to the panic developed. The A case recounts the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his "war" on the Second Bank of the United States, a quasi-central bank. It also describes the "market revolution" occurring in the U.S. economy and the political factions that had emerged. Finally, it summarizes the causes and story of the panic of 1837. The B case presents draft legislation for an Independent Treasury and President Van Buren's message with which he aimed to open a special session of the U.S. Congress and enact the Independent Treasury proposal. The C case describes the failures to enact the proposal in 1837, 1838, and 1839-ultimately the proposal was enacted in 1840. The case also describes other civic reactions: a new Bankruptcy Act and state-level "free banking" laws. Finally, the case describes the economic aftermath: another panic in 1839 and a long depression that ensued.
Swot Analysis of "The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A)" written by Robert F. Bruner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 1837 Panic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Recession and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 1837 Panic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 1837 Panic 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 1837 Panic
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 1837 Panic
Strengths The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 1837 Panic in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– 1837 Panic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled 1837 Panic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– 1837 Panic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 1837 Panic 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of 1837 Panic in the sector have low bargaining power. The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps 1837 Panic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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.
Training and development
– 1837 Panic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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.
Strong track record of project management
– 1837 Panic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– 1837 Panic 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 Robert F. Bruner 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that 1837 Panic 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.
Learning organization
- 1837 Panic 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 1837 Panic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– 1837 Panic 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 The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of 1837 Panic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the 1837 Panic 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.
Weaknesses The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at 1837 Panic 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, 1837 Panic 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, Robert F. Bruner suggests that, 1837 Panic 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, 1837 Panic 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. 1837 Panic 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 1837 Panic 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
1837 Panic has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 1837 Panic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left 1837 Panic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as 1837 Panic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– 1837 Panic 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 1837 Panic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 1837 Panic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) | 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for 1837 Panic to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of 1837 Panic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help 1837 Panic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) case study. 1837 Panic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, 1837 Panic 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 1837 Panic 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 1837 Panic 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 1837 Panic to increase its market reach. 1837 Panic 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– 1837 Panic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– 1837 Panic 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for 1837 Panic 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 1837 Panic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. 1837 Panic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, 1837 Panic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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.
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 1837 Panic in the consumer business. Now 1837 Panic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– 1837 Panic 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.
Manufacturing automation
– 1837 Panic 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.
Threats The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) are -
Increasing wage structure of 1837 Panic
– 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 1837 Panic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that 1837 Panic is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. 1837 Panic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. 1837 Panic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, 1837 Panic 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) .
Environmental challenges
– 1837 Panic 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. 1837 Panic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Regulatory challenges
– 1837 Panic 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.
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 1837 Panic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 1837 Panic 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 1837 Panic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 1837 Panic.
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.
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 1837 Panic in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 Panic of 1837 and the Market Revolution in America (A) 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 1837 Panic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
