Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation
Having identified his "needs and dreams," Paul Schroder had to figure out what to do next. Putting emotions aside, he needed to identify the best options to come up with the required amounts of liquidity at the right times. As Schroder thought through the issues, he viewed his company, Travel Imagination, as the key to his goals. He could continue to manage and own the business, but he was concerned about this asset's concentration and unpredictability in his portfolio. While he was confident that the direct mail company could successfully face the Internet challenge, he was concerned that he might be wrong, and that he would expose his family to too much risk. He knew that he had too much wealth concentrated in this one company, and bad things can happen to good companies. His future support for his daughter Emily depended on it. This case describes a hypothetical investor faced with the challenges of asset allocation, diversification, family businesses, risk, and leverage.
Authors :: George Parker, Alan Rappaport, Jaclyn C. Foroughi
Swot Analysis of "Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation" written by George Parker, Alan Rappaport, Jaclyn C. Foroughi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Schroder Family facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Financial management, Risk management, Work-life balance and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Schroder Family, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Schroder Family 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Schroder Family
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 Schroder Family
Strengths Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Schroder Family in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Schroder Family 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Schroder Family in the sector have low bargaining power. Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Schroder Family to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Schroder Family
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Schroder Family does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Schroder Family has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Schroder Family to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Schroder Family has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Schroder Family is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Schroder Family to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Schroder Family to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Schroder Family 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Schroder Family 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 Schroder Family is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Schroder Family is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Schroder Family is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation HBR case study mentions - Schroder Family 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Schroder Family 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 - Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Schroder Family 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Schroder Family is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Schroder Family needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Schroder Family to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Schroder Family, firm in the HBR case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Schroder Family 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation, in the dynamic environment Schroder Family has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Schroder Family has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation, it seems that the employees of Schroder Family 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation | 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Schroder Family 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Schroder Family 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Schroder Family has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Schroder Family to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation case study. Schroder Family can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Schroder Family in the consumer business. Now Schroder Family can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Schroder Family is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family to increase its market reach. Schroder Family 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, Schroder Family can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Schroder Family operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Schroder Family 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.
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 Schroder Family 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.
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. Schroder Family can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Schroder Family 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Schroder Family can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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.
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. Schroder Family 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. Schroder Family 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.
Threats Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation, Schroder Family 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Schroder Family with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Schroder Family 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation .
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 Schroder Family business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Schroder Family
– 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 Schroder Family.
Regulatory challenges
– Schroder Family 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Schroder Family is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Schroder Family has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Schroder Family 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.
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. Schroder Family needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Schroder Family 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.
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 Schroder Family in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Schroder Family.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family (B): Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation 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 Schroder Family needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
