BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform
One of the most frustrating parts of trading bonds in Asia today is that prior to placing a trade, buyers and sellers must spend hours phoning dealers to get quotes and aggregating market research. In July 2000, HSBC, Deustche Bank, and Citigroup joined forces with Bridge e-Markets to form BondsinAsia (BIA), which aimed at facilitating the trading of Asian fixed-income securities. Officially launched in January 2002, BIA rolled out an electronic trading system in Hong Kong and Singapore. The system replaced paper and telephone information gathering by giving access to online price and research information to market participants on an instantaneous, 24/7 basis. As BIA was preparing to expand its portal to other markets, a number of questions remained on many industry players' minds. How would the legal, regulatory, and technical issues affect BIA's cross-market franchise model?
Authors :: Ali F. Farhoomand, Mary Ho, Francois Roy
Swot Analysis of "BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform" written by Ali F. Farhoomand, Mary Ho, Francois Roy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bia Bondsinasia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial markets, International business and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bia Bondsinasia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bia Bondsinasia 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bia Bondsinasia
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 Bia Bondsinasia
Strengths BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bia Bondsinasia in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bia Bondsinasia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bia Bondsinasia 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Bia Bondsinasia 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 Ali F. Farhoomand, Mary Ho, Francois Roy 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bia Bondsinasia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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.
Training and development
– Bia Bondsinasia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bia Bondsinasia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bia Bondsinasia 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.
High brand equity
– Bia Bondsinasia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bia Bondsinasia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Bia Bondsinasia 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 Bia Bondsinasia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bia Bondsinasia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Bia Bondsinasia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bia Bondsinasia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bia Bondsinasia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bia Bondsinasia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Bia Bondsinasia 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 Bia Bondsinasia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali F. Farhoomand, Mary Ho, Francois Roy suggests that, Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform, in the dynamic environment Bia Bondsinasia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bia Bondsinasia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bia Bondsinasia 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. Bia Bondsinasia 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bia Bondsinasia 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform, 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 Bia Bondsinasia 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 - BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bia Bondsinasia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bia Bondsinasia needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bia Bondsinasia, firm in the HBR case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bia Bondsinasia products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bia Bondsinasia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform | 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bia Bondsinasia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bia Bondsinasia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bia Bondsinasia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bia Bondsinasia 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.
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 Bia Bondsinasia 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.
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 Bia Bondsinasia in the consumer business. Now Bia Bondsinasia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Bia Bondsinasia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bia Bondsinasia 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bia Bondsinasia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bia Bondsinasia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bia Bondsinasia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bia Bondsinasia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform case study. Bia Bondsinasia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform are -
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. Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bia Bondsinasia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform, Bia Bondsinasia 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bia Bondsinasia 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.
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 Bia Bondsinasia.
Increasing wage structure of Bia Bondsinasia
– 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 Bia Bondsinasia.
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. Bia Bondsinasia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bia Bondsinasia is facing in Global Business 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 Bia Bondsinasia in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline 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. Bia Bondsinasia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bia Bondsinasia 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
– Bia Bondsinasia 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 BondsinAsia: Trading Bonds on a Global Franchised e-Platform 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 Bia Bondsinasia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.