Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia
In 2003, Susan Field, a British citizen living and working in Hong Kong, won her case against Barber Asia Ltd, a private financial advisory firm. Ms. Field filed a complaint against Barber Asia claiming she lost a significant amount of money owing to investment advice she received from her financial advisor, Andrew Barber. Field won her case. The judge found that although Barber did not violate professional standards as written, he did violate a professional's duty of care. The Field v. Barber Asia Ltd. decision was the first time in Hong Kong a financial advisor was held liable for giving negligent advice. The gravity of the situation rested on the fact that Field, a relatively inexperienced investor who desired a low-risk strategy, was advised to enter into a risky scheme unsuited to her stated objectives. The High Court concluded that Barber should compensate Field for her loss. What message does this ruling send to financial professionals in Hong Kong? Does it indicate a problem at the regulatory level?
Swot Analysis of "Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia" written by P.S. Tso, Monica Park includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Barber Field facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Barber Field, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Barber Field 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Barber Field
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 Barber Field
Strengths Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Barber Field in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Barber Field 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 Barber Field in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Barber Field 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
– Barber Field has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Barber Field 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 Barber Field in the sector have low bargaining power. Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Barber Field to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Barber Field
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Barber Field does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Barber Field to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Barber Field to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Barber Field has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Barber Field in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Barber Field 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 Barber Field is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Barber Field is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Barber Field is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Barber Field is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Barber Field is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Barber Field needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Barber Field to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Barber Field 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Barber Field 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 - Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia, it seems that the employees of Barber Field 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia HBR case study mentions - Barber Field 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Barber Field 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Barber Field products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Barber Field needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Barber Field 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Barber Field, firm in the HBR case study Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Barber Field 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.
Opportunities Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia | 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Barber Field can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Barber Field operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Barber Field 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Barber Field 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Barber Field has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Barber Field to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia case study. Barber Field can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Barber Field 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, Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Barber Field 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. Barber Field 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Barber Field to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Barber Field is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Barber Field to increase its market reach. Barber Field 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
– Barber Field 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
– Barber Field 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Barber Field can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Barber Field can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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.
Threats Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Barber Field in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Barber Field can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Barber Field with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Barber Field 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. Barber Field can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Barber Field 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia, Barber Field may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Barber Field is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Barber Field 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Barber Field 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Barber Field 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Barber Field 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 Barber Field business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Duty of Care: Susan Field v. Barber Asia 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 Barber Field needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.