Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B)
The case describes the decision of Omar Selim to set up Arabesque as an independent organization and how he organized Arabesque to use both financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in order to deliver performance for its clients. Supplement to case 115021.
Authors :: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson, Shannon Gombos
Swot Analysis of "Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B)" written by George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson, Shannon Gombos includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Arabesque Selim facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Leadership, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Arabesque Selim, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Arabesque Selim 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Arabesque Selim
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 Arabesque Selim
Strengths Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Arabesque Selim in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Arabesque Selim in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Arabesque Selim 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Arabesque Selim 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 Arabesque Selim is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Arabesque Selim 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 George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson, Shannon Gombos 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Arabesque Selim has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Arabesque Selim 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 recruit top talent
– Arabesque Selim is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Arabesque Selim 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Arabesque Selim is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Arabesque Selim has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Arabesque Selim to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Arabesque Selim
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Arabesque Selim does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Arabesque Selim to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Arabesque Selim to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Arabesque Selim in the sector have low bargaining power. Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Arabesque Selim to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Arabesque Selim is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Arabesque Selim has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Arabesque Selim 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Arabesque Selim products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Arabesque Selim needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B), 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson, Shannon Gombos suggests that, Arabesque Selim 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Arabesque Selim 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B), it seems that the employees of Arabesque Selim 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B), in the dynamic environment Arabesque Selim has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Arabesque Selim has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Arabesque Selim 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 - Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Arabesque Selim 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. Arabesque Selim 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.
Opportunities Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) | 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) are -
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 Arabesque Selim in the consumer business. Now Arabesque Selim can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Arabesque Selim can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Arabesque Selim 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Arabesque Selim has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Arabesque Selim to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) case study. Arabesque Selim can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Arabesque Selim 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Arabesque Selim can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Loyalty marketing
– Arabesque Selim 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Arabesque Selim can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Arabesque Selim can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Arabesque Selim 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.
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. Arabesque Selim 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. Arabesque Selim 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Arabesque Selim to increase its market reach. Arabesque Selim will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Arabesque Selim can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Arabesque Selim operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Threats Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Arabesque Selim 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Arabesque Selim 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B), Arabesque Selim 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Arabesque Selim is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Arabesque Selim 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. Arabesque Selim can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing wage structure of Arabesque Selim
– 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 Arabesque Selim.
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. Arabesque Selim needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Arabesque Selim 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) .
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 Arabesque Selim in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Arabesque Selim.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Arabesque Selim has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Arabesque Selim 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Arabesque Selim 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Omar Selim: Building a Values-Based Asset Management Firm (B) 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 Arabesque Selim needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.