Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement
On October 11, 2006, Istithmar, a subsidiary of Dubai World, the flagship investment company of the government of Dubai, purchased the 270-room W Hotel in Union Square from Related Companies for $285 million. LEM Capital, a mid-sized private equity firm, subsequently became a junior player in the stack of funders for the property. When Istithmar defaulted on its loan to its primary lender in 2009, LEM's $20 million investment was at risk. This case asks students to review the actual loan and intercreditor agreements to determine what strategy might help LEM to preserve its investment.
Swot Analysis of "Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement" written by Lynne B. Sagalyn, Fred Knapp includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intercreditor Istithmar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Recession, Strategy and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intercreditor Istithmar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intercreditor Istithmar
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 Intercreditor Istithmar
Strengths Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intercreditor Istithmar in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Intercreditor Istithmar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Lynne B. Sagalyn, Fred Knapp 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 Intercreditor Istithmar digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Learning organization
- Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Intercreditor Istithmar is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement - 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
– Intercreditor Istithmar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intercreditor Istithmar 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
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Intercreditor Istithmar in the sector have low bargaining power. Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intercreditor Istithmar to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intercreditor Istithmar to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intercreditor Istithmar to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Intercreditor Istithmar is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Intercreditor Istithmar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intercreditor Istithmar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intercreditor Istithmar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Intercreditor Istithmar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intercreditor Istithmar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Intercreditor Istithmar products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intercreditor Istithmar needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Intercreditor Istithmar 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intercreditor Istithmar is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Intercreditor Istithmar is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement HBR case study mentions - Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Intercreditor Istithmar has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, it seems that the employees of Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intercreditor Istithmar vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement | 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intercreditor Istithmar 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, Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Intercreditor Istithmar is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Intercreditor Istithmar 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, Intercreditor Istithmar can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Intercreditor Istithmar operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Intercreditor Istithmar can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar in the consumer business. Now Intercreditor Istithmar can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Intercreditor Istithmar to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intercreditor Istithmar has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Intercreditor Istithmar to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement case study. Intercreditor Istithmar can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Intercreditor Istithmar 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. Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Threats Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Intercreditor Istithmar with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, Intercreditor Istithmar 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intercreditor Istithmar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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. Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar.
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. Intercreditor Istithmar can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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 Intercreditor Istithmar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.