Case Study Description of Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders
In early summer 2012, Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. (Brookfield), a Calgary-based residential property developer with holdings throughout North America, had an opportunity to develop a vacant site in the inner-city community of Scarboro, in the southwest quadrant of Calgary. Brookfield did not own the site but was working with the landowner to request that the city of Calgary rezone the site from single family to Direct Control to allow a proposed 52-unit project. Brookfield's proposed housing development project was planned by following the policies set out in Calgary's Municipal Development Plan. The plan was focused on the densification of Calgary's population, particularly in the inner city and along established public transportation routes. The question was, how could Brookfield proceed to get buy-in for its project from Scarboro and the surrounding communities? The authors Norm Althouse and Peggy Hedges are affiliated with University of Calgary.
Swot Analysis of "Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders" written by Norm Althouse, Peggy Hedges, Cheryl Brazell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Brookfield Calgary facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy, Public relations, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Brookfield Calgary, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Brookfield Calgary
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Brookfield Calgary
Strengths Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Brookfield Calgary in Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Brookfield Calgary is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Brookfield Calgary is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Brookfield Calgary digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Brookfield Calgary 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Brookfield Calgary 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Brookfield Calgary in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Brookfield Calgary 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 Norm Althouse, Peggy Hedges, Cheryl Brazell 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Calgary in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Brookfield Calgary to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Brookfield Calgary to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Brookfield Calgary is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Brookfield Calgary 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Brookfield Calgary 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Calgary has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Norm Althouse, Peggy Hedges, Cheryl Brazell suggests that, Brookfield Calgary 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.
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 Brookfield Calgary supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Brookfield Calgary vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Brookfield Calgary is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, it seems that the employees of Brookfield Calgary 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Brookfield Calgary is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Brookfield Calgary 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, is just above the industry average. Brookfield Calgary needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Opportunities Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders | 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Brookfield Calgary to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Brookfield Calgary can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Brookfield Calgary 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Brookfield Calgary 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Brookfield Calgary 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, Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Brookfield Calgary 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Brookfield Calgary has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Brookfield Calgary to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders case study. Brookfield Calgary can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Brookfield Calgary can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Brookfield Calgary operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Brookfield Calgary can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Calgary 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 Brookfield Calgary 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. Brookfield Calgary 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, Brookfield Calgary is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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.
Threats Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Brookfield Calgary 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.
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 Brookfield Calgary business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Brookfield Calgary has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Brookfield Calgary needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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. Brookfield Calgary needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Brookfield Calgary in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Brookfield Calgary in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Brookfield Calgary is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Brookfield Calgary 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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. Brookfield Calgary 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.
Environmental challenges
– Brookfield Calgary 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. Brookfield Calgary can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Brookfield Calgary
– 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 Brookfield Calgary.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Brookfield Calgary can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Residential Properties: Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders 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 Brookfield Calgary needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
