CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.Bill Smith is informed by his general contractor that a key component of the Aria Resort is going to be delayed. Aria is the centerpiece of CityCenter: a $9 billion complex and a bet-the-firm decision for MGM Mirage. Smith must make a decision as to whether to force the general contractor to complete construction or to have the MGM Design Group take over this piece of the construction. The case also looks at the economics of the CityCenter project and discusses the organizational underpinnings needed to make a massive construction process a success.
Authors :: A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber, Ben Creo
Swot Analysis of "CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version" written by A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber, Ben Creo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Citycenter Aria facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Organizational structure and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Citycenter Aria, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Citycenter Aria 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Citycenter Aria
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 Citycenter Aria
Strengths CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Citycenter Aria in CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Citycenter Aria in the sector have low bargaining power. CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Citycenter Aria to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Citycenter Aria has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Citycenter Aria to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Citycenter Aria 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 Citycenter Aria in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Citycenter Aria in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Citycenter Aria 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 Citycenter Aria is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Citycenter Aria is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Citycenter Aria is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Citycenter Aria has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Citycenter Aria 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Citycenter Aria 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Citycenter Aria 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Citycenter Aria to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Citycenter Aria to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Citycenter Aria 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 A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber, Ben Creo 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.
Weaknesses CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version, in the dynamic environment Citycenter Aria has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Citycenter Aria 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 Citycenter Aria 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 - CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version, is just above the industry average. Citycenter Aria needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Citycenter Aria is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version HBR case study mentions - Citycenter Aria 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Citycenter Aria 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Citycenter Aria 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Citycenter Aria is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Citycenter Aria needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Citycenter Aria to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber, Ben Creo suggests that, Citycenter Aria 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Citycenter Aria 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Citycenter Aria products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Citycenter Aria needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Citycenter Aria can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Citycenter Aria 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Citycenter Aria to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Citycenter Aria 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Citycenter Aria 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Citycenter Aria 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Citycenter Aria can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Citycenter Aria operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Citycenter Aria can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Citycenter Aria 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 Citycenter Aria to increase its market reach. Citycenter Aria 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.
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. Citycenter Aria can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Citycenter Aria 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.
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. Citycenter Aria can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Citycenter Aria 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. Citycenter Aria 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.
Threats CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Citycenter Aria 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese Version, Citycenter Aria 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 .
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. Citycenter Aria 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.
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 Citycenter Aria in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Citycenter Aria 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. Citycenter Aria can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing wage structure of Citycenter Aria
– 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 Citycenter Aria.
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 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Citycenter Aria 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.
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. Citycenter Aria needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Citycenter Aria 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Citycenter Aria with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Citycenter Aria business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery, Chinese 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 Citycenter Aria needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.