Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview
Provides statistics and other factual information on the Department of Defense procurement process, DOD expenditures, market share segmentation, the variety of contract types, and the role of the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
Swot Analysis of "Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview" written by Robert L. Simons, Hilary A. Weston includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Defense Procurement facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs, Government, Negotiations and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
technology disruption, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Defense Procurement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Defense Procurement
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 Defense Procurement
Strengths Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Defense Procurement in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Defense Procurement in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Defense Procurement has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Defense Procurement 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Defense Procurement is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Defense Procurement is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Defense Procurement has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Analytics focus
– Defense Procurement 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 L. Simons, Hilary A. Weston 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Defense Procurement digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Defense Procurement 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
– Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Defense Procurement to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Defense Procurement to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Defense Procurement has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Defense Procurement to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert L. Simons, Hilary A. Weston suggests that, Defense Procurement 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Defense Procurement 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. Defense Procurement 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Defense Procurement is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Defense Procurement 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, it seems that the employees of Defense Procurement 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Defense Procurement 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Defense Procurement 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Defense Procurement, firm in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Defense Procurement 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 - Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, in the dynamic environment Defense Procurement has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Defense Procurement has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Defense Procurement 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.
Opportunities Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Defense Procurement to increase its market reach. Defense Procurement 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.
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. Defense Procurement can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Defense Procurement 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement in the consumer business. Now Defense Procurement can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Defense Procurement 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.
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. Defense Procurement 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. Defense Procurement 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Defense Procurement 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Defense Procurement 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Defense Procurement can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Defense Procurement 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Defense Procurement has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Defense Procurement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Defense Procurement 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Defense Procurement with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Defense Procurement 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, Defense Procurement 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 .
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. Defense Procurement can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Defense Procurement 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. Defense Procurement can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Defense Procurement has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Defense Procurement 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.
Increasing wage structure of Defense Procurement
– 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 Defense Procurement.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Defense Procurement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Defense Procurement business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Defense Procurement in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Defense Procurement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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