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 - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Intercreditor Istithmar is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Intercreditor Istithmar in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Intercreditor Istithmar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Intercreditor Istithmar is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynne B. Sagalyn, Fred Knapp suggests that, Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Intercreditor Istithmar, firm in the HBR case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Intercreditor Istithmar 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 - Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, is just above the industry average. Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement, in the dynamic environment Intercreditor Istithmar has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Intercreditor Istithmar has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
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.
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 -
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. Intercreditor Istithmar 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
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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 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.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intercreditor Istithmar to increase its market reach. Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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. Intercreditor Istithmar can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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 .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Intercreditor Istithmar 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.
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 Intercreditor Istithmar in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Intercreditor Istithmar
– 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 Intercreditor Istithmar.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intercreditor Istithmar 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 Battling Over a New York Workout: the W Hotel Strategy Intercreditor Agreement .
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.
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.
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.
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.
