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CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation


In early 2017, the vice-president, Enterprise Innovation, at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), one of Canada's leading banks, encountered roadblocks in partnering with a fintech firm as part of the bank's open innovation strategy. The vice-president wondered how she could leverage the learnings from her experience with onboarding the fintech firm to better manage future open innovation projects at the bank. Streamlining the onboarding process was a priority, as was dealing with internal pushback. The vice-president thought about the role of the facilitator in this process, and whether she should pursue an enterprise innovation lab within the bank.

Authors :: Darren Meister, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

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

Swot Analysis of "CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation" written by Darren Meister, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Onboarding Innovation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation casestudy better are - – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Onboarding Innovation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Onboarding Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Onboarding Innovation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Onboarding Innovation




Strengths CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Onboarding Innovation in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation Harvard Business Review case study are -

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Onboarding Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 Onboarding Innovation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Onboarding Innovation 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 Onboarding Innovation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Analytics focus

– Onboarding Innovation 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 Darren Meister, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar 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 recruit top talent

– Onboarding Innovation is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Training and development

– Onboarding Innovation has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Onboarding Innovation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Onboarding Innovation 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Onboarding Innovation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Onboarding Innovation 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Onboarding Innovation 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Onboarding Innovation to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Onboarding Innovation to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.






Weaknesses CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Onboarding Innovation 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. Onboarding Innovation even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Onboarding Innovation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Onboarding Innovation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Onboarding Innovation is planning to shift buying processes online.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation, it seems that the employees of Onboarding Innovation 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Onboarding Innovation 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Onboarding Innovation 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 - CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Onboarding Innovation 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Onboarding Innovation, firm in the HBR case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Onboarding Innovation 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation, is just above the industry average. Onboarding Innovation 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation, in the dynamic environment Onboarding Innovation has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Onboarding Innovation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.




Opportunities CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation | 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Onboarding Innovation in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Onboarding Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Onboarding Innovation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Onboarding Innovation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Onboarding Innovation 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Onboarding Innovation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Onboarding Innovation 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.

Increase in government spending

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Onboarding Innovation 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. Onboarding Innovation 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Onboarding Innovation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Onboarding Innovation 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Onboarding Innovation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– Onboarding Innovation can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.

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 Onboarding Innovation in the consumer business. Now Onboarding Innovation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.




Threats CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation are -

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 Onboarding Innovation in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Onboarding Innovation is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Onboarding Innovation 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.

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 Onboarding Innovation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 Onboarding Innovation.

Regulatory challenges

– Onboarding Innovation 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.

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. Onboarding Innovation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing wage structure of Onboarding Innovation

– 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 Onboarding Innovation.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Onboarding Innovation 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Onboarding Innovation in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Onboarding Innovation 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Onboarding Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation .

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation 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 Onboarding Innovation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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