Case Study Description of Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012
The systematic analysis of an annual report of a large Canadian public company provides a framework and a set of skills and concepts to determine whether it is worth investing in the company. The detailed examination of the annual report includes an analysis of profitability - including return on capital employed, return on equity, return on sales, gross profit margin and asset turnover - and liquidity measures.
Swot Analysis of "Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012" written by Murray J. Bryant includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Report Annual facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Report Annual, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Report Annual
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 Report Annual
Strengths Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Report Annual in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Report Annual
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Report Annual does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Report Annual in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Report Annual is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Report Annual has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Report Annual is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Report Annual 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 Report Annual in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Report Annual in the sector have low bargaining power. Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Report Annual to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Report Annual 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 Report Annual is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Report Annual is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Report Annual is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Report Annual 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 - Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Report Annual 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012, is just above the industry average. Report Annual 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Report Annual 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Report Annual is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Report Annual products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Report Annual needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Report Annual 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Report Annual has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Murray J. Bryant suggests that, Report Annual 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Report Annual 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.
Opportunities Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 | 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 are -
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. Report Annual 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. Report Annual 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Report Annual has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Report Annual to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 case study. Report Annual can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Report Annual 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 Report Annual 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, Report Annual can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Report Annual operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Report Annual 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Report Annual to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Report Annual is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Report Annual 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Report Annual can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Report Annual 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Report Annual 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Report Annual 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Report Annual is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Report Annual with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Report Annual 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.
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.
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 Report Annual in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Report Annual 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.
Increasing wage structure of Report Annual
– 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 Report Annual.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Report Annual 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 Report Annual business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Report Annual has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Report Annual 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Report Annual 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012, Report Annual 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Loblaw Companies Limited: Analyzing an Annual Report 2012 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 Report Annual needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.