Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza
In underserved urban areas, commercial real estate development finance must often factor in government and local policy, community politics, environmental revitalization, ethnic markets, and mixed-use commercial development. In this case, the Reinvestment Fund and the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative join forces to provide access to quality groceries, something often lacking in urban areas. But redeveloping the Progress Plaza location where the new supermarket would be located did not come without headaches.
Swot Analysis of "Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza" written by Gregory Fairchild, Robert N. Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reinvestment Plaza facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reinvestment Plaza, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reinvestment Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reinvestment Plaza
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 Reinvestment Plaza
Strengths Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reinvestment Plaza in Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Reinvestment Plaza digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Reinvestment Plaza to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Reinvestment Plaza to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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.
Analytics focus
– Reinvestment Plaza 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 Gregory Fairchild, Robert N. Smith 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Reinvestment Plaza is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Reinvestment Plaza has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Reinvestment Plaza to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Reinvestment Plaza has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Reinvestment Plaza has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Reinvestment Plaza is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Reinvestment Plaza
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Reinvestment Plaza does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Reinvestment Plaza 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Weaknesses Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza are -
Need for greater diversity
– Reinvestment Plaza 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Reinvestment Plaza 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Reinvestment Plaza 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 - Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza, in the dynamic environment Reinvestment Plaza has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Reinvestment Plaza has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Reinvestment Plaza is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Reinvestment Plaza needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Reinvestment Plaza to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gregory Fairchild, Robert N. Smith suggests that, Reinvestment Plaza is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza HBR case study mentions - Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Reinvestment Plaza is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Reinvestment Plaza, firm in the HBR case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Reinvestment Plaza has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Reinvestment Plaza products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Reinvestment Plaza needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza | 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza are -
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 Reinvestment Plaza in the consumer business. Now Reinvestment Plaza can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Reinvestment Plaza 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.
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. Reinvestment Plaza can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Reinvestment Plaza can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Reinvestment Plaza in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Reinvestment Plaza can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reinvestment Plaza 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.
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. Reinvestment Plaza can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reinvestment Plaza has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reinvestment Plaza to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza case study. Reinvestment Plaza can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Reinvestment Plaza 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 Reinvestment Plaza to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Reinvestment Plaza can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza are -
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Reinvestment Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza .
Environmental challenges
– Reinvestment Plaza 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. Reinvestment Plaza can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Reinvestment Plaza with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reinvestment Plaza has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reinvestment Plaza needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Reinvestment Plaza 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Reinvestment Plaza 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.
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 Reinvestment Plaza.
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.
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 Reinvestment Plaza business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza, Reinvestment Plaza 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Filling a Hole: The Reinvestment Fund and Progress Plaza 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 Reinvestment Plaza needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.