An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan
The case study documents the efforts of the African Development Corporation (ADC) and the Loita Group to acquire shares in Nile Commercial Bank (NCB) - the number one banking icon in South Sudan - and thus participate in the development of South Sudan as an independent, commodity-rich state. The case focuses on ADC's CEO, Dirk Harbecke, who in 2011 ran a fund that invests in banking and insurance services in sub-Saharan Africa. The case discusses whether or not ADC and Loita should invest in NCB. The real-world result of the case is ADC and Loita's eventual investment in the bank, as explained in the chapter "Restructuring the bank," which outlines the investment as it happens in real time in September 2011.
Swot Analysis of "An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan" written by Veit Etzold includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Adc Sudan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economics, Emerging markets, Financial management, Globalization, Government, Managing uncertainty and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adc Sudan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adc Sudan
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 Adc Sudan
Strengths An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adc Sudan in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Adc Sudan in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Adc Sudan is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Adc Sudan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Adc Sudan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Adc Sudan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Adc Sudan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Adc Sudan has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Adc Sudan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Adc Sudan is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Adc Sudan digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Adc Sudan 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.
Analytics focus
– Adc Sudan 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 Veit Etzold 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Adc Sudan 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.
Weaknesses An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan, it seems that the employees of Adc Sudan 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 Adc Sudan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Adc Sudan products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Adc Sudan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Adc Sudan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Adc Sudan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Adc Sudan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Veit Etzold suggests that, Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan HBR case study mentions - Adc Sudan 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Adc Sudan 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan, in the dynamic environment Adc Sudan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Adc Sudan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan, is just above the industry average. Adc Sudan needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Adc Sudan 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.
Opportunities An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan | 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan are -
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. Adc Sudan 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. Adc Sudan 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Adc Sudan 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 Adc Sudan to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Adc Sudan 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 Adc Sudan in the consumer business. Now Adc Sudan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Adc Sudan 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Adc Sudan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Adc Sudan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Adc Sudan 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.
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. Adc Sudan can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Adc Sudan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Adc Sudan can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Adc Sudan operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Adc Sudan has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Adc Sudan to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan case study. Adc Sudan can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Adc Sudan can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Adc Sudan 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.
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. Adc Sudan 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Adc Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan .
Environmental challenges
– Adc Sudan 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. Adc Sudan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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 Adc Sudan in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan, Adc Sudan 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Adc Sudan 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.
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. Adc Sudan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Adc Sudan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Adc Sudan 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.
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 Adc Sudan.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Adc Sudan 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
– Adc Sudan 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 An Old Bank in a New Country: Restructuring Nile Commercial Bank of South Sudan 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 Adc Sudan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
