Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium
In 2003, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team wanted to build a new stadium complex. The team's existing stadium was aging, and a new stadium offered enhanced revenue potential for one of the NFL's premier teams. The team wanted taxpayer assistance in financing the stadium, and the state legislature voted to put the matter to voters. Discusses the arguments for and against taxpayer financing of sports facilities and the economics of professional football teams. Raises the question of how the Cowboys can persuade the public to support the plan, as well as what alternatives the team should consider if voters reject the proposal.
Swot Analysis of "Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium" written by George Foster, David W. Hoyt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stadium Cowboys facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Policy, Project management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stadium Cowboys, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stadium Cowboys 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stadium Cowboys
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 Stadium Cowboys
Strengths Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stadium Cowboys in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stadium Cowboys in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Stadium Cowboys
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stadium Cowboys does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Stadium Cowboys 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 Stadium Cowboys is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stadium Cowboys is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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)
– Stadium Cowboys 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Stadium Cowboys 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Stadium Cowboys has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stadium Cowboys 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Stadium Cowboys is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Stadium Cowboys is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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
– Stadium Cowboys has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Stadium Cowboys 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.
Weaknesses Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stadium Cowboys 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Stadium Cowboys 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. Stadium Cowboys 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, George Foster, David W. Hoyt suggests that, Stadium Cowboys 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stadium Cowboys is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium HBR case study mentions - Stadium Cowboys 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Stadium Cowboys 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Stadium Cowboys is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Stadium Cowboys needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Stadium Cowboys to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stadium Cowboys, firm in the HBR case study Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stadium Cowboys 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 dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Stadium Cowboys supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stadium Cowboys vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium, 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.
Opportunities Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium | 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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. Stadium Cowboys can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Stadium Cowboys 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stadium Cowboys 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Stadium Cowboys 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
– Stadium Cowboys 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stadium Cowboys 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 Stadium Cowboys can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Stadium Cowboys in the consumer business. Now Stadium Cowboys can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stadium Cowboys 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
– Stadium Cowboys 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.
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 Stadium Cowboys 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stadium Cowboys 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 Stadium Cowboys to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stadium Cowboys is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Stadium Cowboys 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.
Threats Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stadium Cowboys 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Stadium Cowboys with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Stadium Cowboys can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Stadium Cowboys 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stadium Cowboys 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. Stadium Cowboys 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.
Environmental challenges
– Stadium Cowboys 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. Stadium Cowboys can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stadium Cowboys 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium .
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.
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 Stadium Cowboys.
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. Stadium Cowboys needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Stadium Cowboys 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Dallas Cowboys: Financing a New Stadium 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 Stadium Cowboys needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.