Analyzes the career of former money manager Patricia Ostrander. Focuses on Ostrander's purchase of stock warrants issued in connection with the 1985 leveraged buyout of Storer Communications and on her later indictment and conviction for accepting unlawful compensation. At the broadest level, the case examines the financial, economic, legal, and moral consequences of capital market activities in the 1980s.
Authors :: Nancy F. Koehn, Donald J. Edwards, Antonio F. Weiss
Swot Analysis of "Patricia Ostrander" written by Nancy F. Koehn, Donald J. Edwards, Antonio F. Weiss includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ostrander Patricia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Patricia Ostrander case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial markets, Mergers & acquisitions, Regulation and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Patricia Ostrander casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Patricia Ostrander
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Patricia Ostrander case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ostrander Patricia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ostrander Patricia 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 Patricia Ostrander can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Patricia Ostrander case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ostrander Patricia
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 Ostrander Patricia
Strengths Patricia Ostrander | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ostrander Patricia in Patricia Ostrander Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Ostrander Patricia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Patricia Ostrander 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ostrander Patricia in the sector have low bargaining power. Patricia Ostrander has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ostrander Patricia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ostrander Patricia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ostrander Patricia 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ostrander Patricia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ostrander Patricia 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 Patricia Ostrander HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ostrander Patricia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ostrander Patricia 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ostrander Patricia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Patricia Ostrander Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Ostrander Patricia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ostrander Patricia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Ostrander Patricia 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 Ostrander Patricia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Patricia Ostrander firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ostrander Patricia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ostrander Patricia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Ostrander Patricia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Patricia Ostrander 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ostrander Patricia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ostrander Patricia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Patricia Ostrander | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Patricia Ostrander are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Patricia Ostrander HBR case study mentions - Ostrander Patricia 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ostrander Patricia 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ostrander Patricia 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 - Patricia Ostrander should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ostrander Patricia 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Patricia Ostrander, in the dynamic environment Ostrander Patricia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ostrander Patricia 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, Ostrander Patricia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Patricia Ostrander 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ostrander Patricia 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. Ostrander Patricia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Patricia Ostrander 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 Patricia Ostrander can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ostrander Patricia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Ostrander Patricia 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ostrander Patricia, firm in the HBR case study Patricia Ostrander needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Ostrander Patricia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Patricia Ostrander, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ostrander Patricia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Patricia Ostrander | 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 Patricia Ostrander are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ostrander Patricia 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 Patricia Ostrander - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ostrander Patricia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ostrander Patricia 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. Ostrander Patricia 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ostrander Patricia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Patricia Ostrander 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ostrander Patricia 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ostrander Patricia 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, Ostrander Patricia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ostrander Patricia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ostrander Patricia 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ostrander Patricia 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.
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. Ostrander Patricia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ostrander Patricia 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 Global Business segment.
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. Ostrander Patricia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ostrander Patricia 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 Ostrander Patricia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ostrander Patricia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ostrander Patricia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Patricia Ostrander case study. Ostrander Patricia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Patricia Ostrander External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Patricia Ostrander are -
Environmental challenges
– Ostrander Patricia 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. Ostrander Patricia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
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 Ostrander Patricia.
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. Ostrander Patricia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ostrander Patricia 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ostrander Patricia high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ostrander Patricia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ostrander Patricia needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ostrander Patricia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Ostrander Patricia
– 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 Ostrander Patricia.
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. Ostrander Patricia 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Patricia Ostrander, Ostrander Patricia may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ostrander Patricia 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 Patricia Ostrander .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Patricia Ostrander 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 Patricia Ostrander 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 Patricia Ostrander 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 Patricia Ostrander 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 Patricia Ostrander 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 Ostrander Patricia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.