Case Study Description of Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7)
This is a Darden case study.Puts the student in the shoes of the recently appointed treasurer of Polaroid Corporation, who must consider several matters concerning the firm's debt policy. An immediate concern is the company's outstanding $150 million 7.25% notes, due to mature in several months. Although investment bankers interested in doing business with Polaroid have been trying to present proposals for refunding the issue, the new treasurer believes that any refunding decision should be part of a larger review of the firm's financial policies. Accordingly, he has undertaken a review of the firm's overall debt policy, focusing primarily on the mix of debt and equity and on the maturity structure of the debt. Asks students to consider how much flexibility Polaroid's business will require in future years and to pick a target debt ratio that provides the necessary flexibility. Students must evaluate, in addition to internal demands for funds, the role of bond ratings and investment-grade status in maintaining ongoing access to capital markets.
Swot Analysis of "Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7)" written by Robert F. Bruner, Susan Chaplinsky includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Polaroid Debt facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Polaroid Debt, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Polaroid Debt
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 Polaroid Debt
Strengths Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Polaroid Debt in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Debt in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Polaroid Debt in the sector have low bargaining power. Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Polaroid Debt to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Polaroid Debt digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Polaroid Debt 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Polaroid Debt is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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.
Analytics focus
– Polaroid Debt 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 Robert F. Bruner, Susan Chaplinsky 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Polaroid Debt has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Polaroid Debt 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.
Training and development
– Polaroid Debt has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Polaroid Debt in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Polaroid Debt
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Polaroid Debt does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Polaroid Debt 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Polaroid Debt is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Polaroid Debt needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Polaroid Debt to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Polaroid Debt 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. Polaroid Debt 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Polaroid Debt, firm in the HBR case study Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Polaroid Debt has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Debt has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Polaroid Debt 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7), in the dynamic environment Polaroid Debt has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Polaroid Debt has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Polaroid Debt 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 - Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Debt 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) | 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Polaroid Debt is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Polaroid Debt 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Polaroid Debt has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Polaroid Debt to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) case study. Polaroid Debt 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, Polaroid Debt 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, Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Polaroid Debt to increase its market reach. Polaroid Debt 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Polaroid Debt can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Polaroid Debt operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Polaroid Debt 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.
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 Polaroid Debt in the consumer business. Now Polaroid Debt can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Polaroid Debt 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 Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Polaroid Debt can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Polaroid Debt 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Debt to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Polaroid Debt can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) are -
Environmental challenges
– Polaroid Debt 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. Polaroid Debt can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Polaroid Debt 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.
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 Polaroid Debt business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Polaroid Debt will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Polaroid Debt 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
– Polaroid Debt 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Polaroid Debt 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.
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. Polaroid Debt 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 Polaroid Debt with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Polaroid Debt in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Polaroid Debt 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Corp., 1996 (v. 1.7) 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 Polaroid Debt needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.