Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee
On September 2003, Richard Grasso stepped down as chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, following weeks of intense public criticism over the size of his $190 million compensation package. As chairman of the committee that oversaw Grasso's payout, Ken Langone believed firmly that the payment was fair and reasonable. However, NYSE members, government regulators, and the media alike blamed the board for its oversight and viewed Langone as the mastermind behind Grasso's huge payout. Calls to oust Langone as director from all his board positions came within days of Grasso's resignation. This case follows immediate backlash against Langone over his role at the NYSE as well as the connection this scandal had on his eventual departure from General Electric's board of directors. Should Langone have resigned from GE's board?
Swot Analysis of "Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee" written by Suraj Srinivasan, Lizzie Gomez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Langone Grasso's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Boards, Change management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Langone Grasso's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Langone Grasso's 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Langone Grasso's
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 Langone Grasso's
Strengths Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Langone Grasso's in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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.
Organizational Resilience of Langone Grasso's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Langone Grasso's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Langone Grasso's 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Langone Grasso's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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.
Training and development
– Langone Grasso's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Langone Grasso's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Langone Grasso's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Langone Grasso's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Langone Grasso's 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Langone Grasso's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Langone Grasso's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Langone Grasso's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Langone Grasso's 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 Langone Grasso's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Langone Grasso's 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee, 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 Langone Grasso's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Langone Grasso's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Langone Grasso's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Suraj Srinivasan, Lizzie Gomez suggests that, Langone Grasso's 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Langone Grasso's, firm in the HBR case study Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Langone Grasso's 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. Langone Grasso's 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Langone Grasso's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Langone Grasso's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Langone Grasso's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Langone Grasso's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Langone Grasso's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Langone Grasso's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee, in the dynamic environment Langone Grasso's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Langone Grasso's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee | 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Langone Grasso's 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, Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee, 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 Langone Grasso's to increase its market reach. Langone Grasso's 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Langone Grasso's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Langone Grasso's 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
– Langone Grasso's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Langone Grasso's 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 Langone Grasso's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Langone Grasso's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Langone Grasso's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Langone Grasso's can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Langone Grasso's 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Langone Grasso's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Langone Grasso's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Langone Grasso's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Langone Grasso's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Langone Grasso's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Langone Grasso's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee case study. Langone Grasso's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Langone Grasso's is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Langone Grasso's in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline 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 Langone Grasso's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Langone Grasso's
– 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 Langone Grasso's.
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 Langone Grasso's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Langone Grasso's 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee, Langone Grasso's 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
– Langone Grasso's 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.
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 Langone Grasso's.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Langone Grasso's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Langone Grasso's 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.
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.
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. Langone Grasso's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee 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 Langone Grasso's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
