Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center
Focuses on the development of London as a leading international financial center and the difficulties it faces maintaining its status. Examines London's history as a financial center from Roman times to the present day. London's position in the 19th century rested on the great importance of Britain in the world economy and the role of sterling as the major international currency. By the mid-20th century both of these factors were much reduced in importance, but London was renewed as the physical home of the Euromarkets. Explores regulatory and other factors, including economies of agglomeration, which contribute to making a financial center.
Authors :: Geoffrey G. Jones, Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine
Swot Analysis of "Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center" written by Geoffrey G. Jones, Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Center London's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Currency, Economics, International business, Operations management, Regulation and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Center London's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Center London's 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Center London's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Center London's
Strengths Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Center London's in Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Center London's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Center London's in the sector have low bargaining power. Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Center London's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Center London's 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 Geoffrey G. Jones, Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Center London's 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 Center London's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Center London's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Center London's 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.
Organizational Resilience of Center London's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Center London's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Center London's 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Center London's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Center London's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Center London's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Center London's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Center London's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center, it seems that the employees of Center London's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Center London's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Center London's 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 Center London's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Center London's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Center London's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Center London's 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. Center London's 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center, in the dynamic environment Center London's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Center London's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Center London's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Center London's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Center London's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Center London's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
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 Center London's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Center London's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center | 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Center London's 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.
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 Center London's in the consumer business. Now Center London's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Center London's can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Center London's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Center London's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Center London's 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. Center London's 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Center London's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Center London's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Center London's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Center London's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Center London's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center case study. Center London's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Center London's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Center London's 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Center London's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Center London's to increase its market reach. Center London's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Center London's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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.
Threats Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Center London's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Center London's
– 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 Center London's.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Center London's demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
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 Center London's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Center London's 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Center London's in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Center London's 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Center London's 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Center London's 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Center London's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Center London's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Walking on a Tightrope: Maintaining London as a Financial Center 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 Center London's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
