SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre
Supplement case for UV5683.On July 15, 2010, the U.S. Senate obtained the 60 votes needed to pass the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. On the same day, the SEC reached a $550 million settlement with Goldman Sachs relating to its April 16 lawsuit by dropping its fraud charges. Supporters of both sides claimed the settlement was a victory. This short case is the epilogue to "The SEC vs. Goldman Sachs" (UVA-GEM-0101).
Swot Analysis of "SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre" written by Wei Li, Rick Green includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Settlement Sachs facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Settlement Sachs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Settlement Sachs 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Settlement Sachs
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 Settlement Sachs
Strengths SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Settlement Sachs in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Settlement Sachs 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Settlement Sachs has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Settlement Sachs is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Settlement Sachs is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Settlement Sachs 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 Settlement Sachs in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Settlement Sachs are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Settlement Sachs is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Settlement Sachs to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Settlement Sachs to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Settlement Sachs 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 Settlement Sachs is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Settlement Sachs digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Settlement Sachs 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.
Analytics focus
– Settlement Sachs 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 Wei Li, Rick Green 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Wei Li, Rick Green suggests that, Settlement Sachs 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Settlement Sachs 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 Settlement Sachs, firm in the HBR case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Settlement Sachs 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Settlement Sachs 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre HBR case study mentions - Settlement Sachs 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Settlement Sachs is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Settlement Sachs has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre, 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.
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 Settlement Sachs supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Settlement Sachs vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre, in the dynamic environment Settlement Sachs has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Settlement Sachs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre | 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Settlement Sachs has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Settlement Sachs to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre case study. Settlement Sachs can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Settlement Sachs in the consumer business. Now Settlement Sachs can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Settlement Sachs 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Settlement Sachs can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Settlement Sachs 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 Settlement Sachs to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Settlement Sachs 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, SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Settlement Sachs 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Settlement Sachs to increase its market reach. Settlement Sachs 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, Settlement Sachs is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Settlement Sachs 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Settlement Sachs 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Settlement Sachs in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Settlement Sachs 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.
Threats SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre, Settlement Sachs 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 .
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 Settlement Sachs 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.
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Settlement Sachs has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Settlement Sachs 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Settlement Sachs 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Settlement Sachs 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.
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. Settlement Sachs can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Settlement Sachs in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Settlement Sachs 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre .
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 Settlement Sachs.
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. Settlement Sachs needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Settlement Sachs is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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 SEC versus Goldman Sachs (B): The Settlement-Everybody Wins, Except Fabrice Tourre 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 Settlement Sachs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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