Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology

This case is set in 2017, three years after Fullerton Myanmar (FFMCL), a microfinance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, was founded by Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH), a Singapore-based firm that invests and operates financial institutions in Asian emerging markets. Since its inception, FFMCL has been able to establish itself as one of the top five MFIs in Myanmar in terms of loans outstanding, despite numerous challenges related to the country's limited infrastructure, competition from other MFIs, the dispersion of the population and the difficulty in reaching rural communities. To achieve its mission of "Enabling Success, Enriching Lives", FFMCL has demonstrated tremendous growth in providing loans to microenterprises in Myanmar through the use of technology. The company has established an ambitious growth plan of expanding coverage fivefold in the next five years, and its leadership is pondering what is the best strategy it should follow to achieve this plan. Given the advances in technology as it relates to mobile financial services and big data analytics, what role does technology play in FFCML's plan, and what strategy should the company follow to achieve its plan?

Authors :: Howard Thomas, Miguel Soriano

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Innovation, Social enterprise, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology" written by Howard Thomas, Miguel Soriano includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Myanmar Ffmcl facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Social enterprise, Technology and Finance & Accounting.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Myanmar Ffmcl, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Myanmar Ffmcl
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 Myanmar Ffmcl

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Strengths Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Myanmar Ffmcl in Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Myanmar Ffmcl is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

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

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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.

Organizational Resilience of Myanmar Ffmcl

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

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry

– Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Myanmar Ffmcl to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Myanmar Ffmcl to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

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

Analytics focus

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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 Howard Thomas, Miguel Soriano 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 Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

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Weaknesses Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology are -

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology HBR case study mentions - Myanmar Ffmcl takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Myanmar Ffmcl is planning to shift buying processes online.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Myanmar Ffmcl, firm in the HBR case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology, in the dynamic environment Myanmar Ffmcl has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Myanmar Ffmcl has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology, is just above the industry average. Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Myanmar Ffmcl is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

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Opportunities Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology | 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology are -

Better consumer reach

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

Loyalty marketing

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Increase in government spending

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

Buying journey improvements

– Myanmar Ffmcl can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Myanmar Ffmcl can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Myanmar Ffmcl 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, Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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

Developing new processes and practices

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Myanmar Ffmcl can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Finance & Accounting segment.

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. Myanmar Ffmcl can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

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Threats Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology are -

Increasing wage structure of Myanmar Ffmcl

– 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 Myanmar Ffmcl.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Myanmar Ffmcl 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology .

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology, Myanmar Ffmcl 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 .

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 Myanmar Ffmcl business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Environmental challenges

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

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 Myanmar Ffmcl in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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 Myanmar Ffmcl.

Regulatory challenges

– Myanmar Ffmcl 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.

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.

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

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Fullerton Myanmar: Delivering Financial Inclusion through Social Impact and Technology 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 Myanmar Ffmcl needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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