Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting
The case puts students in the position of a young analyst working for a Chicago-based student housing developer. The premise is that the analyst, Tricia, must prepare a report for the firm's partners detailing her recommendations regarding a variety of green upgrades for a potential value-added acquisition project. The redevelopment project is based on two multifamily student housing redevelopment projects in Denton, Texas (led by Iconic Development). The case focuses solely on the operating expense reduction that took place at the property and does not address potential changes to property revenues.
Authors :: Denise Akason, Bill Bennett, Louis Merlini
Swot Analysis of "Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting" written by Denise Akason, Bill Bennett, Louis Merlini includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Redevelopment Housing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Redevelopment Housing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Redevelopment Housing 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Redevelopment Housing
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 Redevelopment Housing
Strengths Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Redevelopment Housing in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Redevelopment Housing 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Redevelopment Housing 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 Redevelopment Housing 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 Finance & Accounting industry
– Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Redevelopment Housing to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Redevelopment Housing to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Redevelopment Housing 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Redevelopment Housing 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Redevelopment Housing is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Redevelopment Housing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Redevelopment Housing 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 Redevelopment Housing is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Redevelopment Housing has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Redevelopment Housing to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Redevelopment Housing digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Redevelopment Housing 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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.
Training and development
– Redevelopment Housing has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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.
Weaknesses Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Redevelopment Housing 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 - Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting, is just above the industry average. Redevelopment Housing 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Redevelopment Housing is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Redevelopment Housing needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Redevelopment Housing to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting HBR case study mentions - Redevelopment Housing 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, Redevelopment Housing is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Redevelopment Housing has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Redevelopment Housing 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Redevelopment Housing is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Redevelopment Housing 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Redevelopment Housing 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting, it seems that the employees of Redevelopment Housing 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.
Opportunities Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting | 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Redevelopment Housing has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Redevelopment Housing to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting case study. Redevelopment Housing can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Redevelopment Housing 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. Redevelopment Housing 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Redevelopment Housing 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Redevelopment Housing to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Redevelopment Housing can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Redevelopment Housing operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Redevelopment Housing 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Redevelopment Housing can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Redevelopment Housing 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Redevelopment Housing to increase its market reach. Redevelopment Housing 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Redevelopment Housing 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.
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. Redevelopment Housing can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Redevelopment Housing 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 Redevelopment Housing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Redevelopment Housing 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Redevelopment Housing is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting are -
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.
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. Redevelopment Housing needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting, Redevelopment Housing 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 .
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 Redevelopment Housing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Redevelopment Housing is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Redevelopment Housing in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Redevelopment Housing 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 Redevelopment Housing
– 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 Redevelopment Housing.
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. Redevelopment Housing 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Redevelopment Housing 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Redevelopment Housing 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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Redevelopment Housing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Financial and Environmental Impact Analysis of Sustainable Retrofitting 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 Redevelopment Housing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
