Case Study Description of Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley
The case reviews responses by governments, securities commissions and others to the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It discusses the certification of financial statements and internal controls, the role of boards and board committees, including the audit committee, and issues of auditor independence. The Canadian Public Accountability Board is also discussed.
Swot Analysis of "Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley" written by Vaughan Radcliffe, Brooke Harley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Oxley Sarbanes facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Boards, Performance measurement, Regulation and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oxley Sarbanes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oxley Sarbanes 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oxley Sarbanes
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 Oxley Sarbanes
Strengths Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oxley Sarbanes in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Oxley Sarbanes in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Oxley Sarbanes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Oxley Sarbanes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Oxley Sarbanes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Oxley Sarbanes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Oxley Sarbanes has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Oxley Sarbanes in the sector have low bargaining power. Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Oxley Sarbanes to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Oxley Sarbanes is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oxley Sarbanes is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Oxley Sarbanes is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Oxley Sarbanes is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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.
Organizational Resilience of Oxley Sarbanes
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Oxley Sarbanes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Oxley Sarbanes has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Oxley Sarbanes has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley, in the dynamic environment Oxley Sarbanes has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Oxley Sarbanes has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley HBR case study mentions - Oxley Sarbanes 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Oxley Sarbanes has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Oxley Sarbanes is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Oxley Sarbanes 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. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley, is just above the industry average. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Oxley Sarbanes 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 - Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Opportunities Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley | 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Oxley Sarbanes 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, Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Oxley Sarbanes can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Oxley Sarbanes operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Oxley Sarbanes can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Oxley Sarbanes can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Oxley Sarbanes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Oxley Sarbanes to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley case study. Oxley Sarbanes can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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. Oxley Sarbanes can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Oxley Sarbanes to increase its market reach. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Threats Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley are -
Environmental challenges
– Oxley Sarbanes 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. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley, Oxley Sarbanes 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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. Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Oxley Sarbanes 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley .
Regulatory challenges
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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 Oxley Sarbanes in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Canada's Response to Sarbanes-Oxley 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 Oxley Sarbanes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
