Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version
The partners of a new midmarket buyout fund are working on a buyout of a closely held modular building company. Although originally structured as a stock deal, they have realized that an asset deal would be preferable from their point of view and are trying to determine what benefits it might hold for the sellers, whose continuing involvement in the company is essential for success. This case describes the process of the deal's due diligence and the state of the LBO industry in the early 21st century.
Authors :: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Ann Leamon
Swot Analysis of "Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version" written by Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Ann Leamon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lbo Buyout facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lbo Buyout, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lbo Buyout
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 Lbo Buyout
Strengths Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lbo Buyout in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lbo Buyout in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lbo Buyout to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lbo Buyout to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lbo Buyout is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lbo Buyout has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lbo Buyout 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.
Learning organization
- Lbo Buyout 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 Lbo Buyout is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Lbo Buyout 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 Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Ann Leamon 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 Lbo Buyout digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lbo Buyout 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lbo Buyout is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Lbo Buyout is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lbo Buyout 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Ann Leamon suggests that, Lbo Buyout 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Lbo Buyout 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Lbo Buyout has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lbo Buyout has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Lbo Buyout 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lbo Buyout is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lbo Buyout, firm in the HBR case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Lbo Buyout 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Lbo Buyout 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. Lbo Buyout 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version, it seems that the employees of Lbo Buyout 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.
Opportunities Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version | 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lbo Buyout 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 Lbo Buyout to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lbo Buyout can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lbo Buyout operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lbo Buyout 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Lbo Buyout to increase its market reach. Lbo Buyout 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lbo Buyout 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lbo Buyout is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Lbo Buyout 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lbo Buyout to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lbo Buyout can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lbo Buyout 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.
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. Lbo Buyout can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Lbo Buyout 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lbo Buyout has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lbo Buyout to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version case study. Lbo Buyout can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version are -
Environmental challenges
– Lbo Buyout 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. Lbo Buyout can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lbo Buyout 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lbo Buyout has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lbo Buyout 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.
Increasing wage structure of Lbo Buyout
– 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 Lbo Buyout.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lbo Buyout 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lbo Buyout is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Lbo Buyout 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 Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version, Lbo Buyout 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 .
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. Lbo Buyout 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Brazos Partners: The CoMark LBO, Spanish Version 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 Lbo Buyout needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.