Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland
Rose Adams, the CFO of Haley-Midland, Inc., dispensed with pleasantries and started right in on her questions for Jim Sweeney, the senior vice president of human resources, and Nancy Walters, Haley-Midland's vice president and treasurer, about the brewing crisis with the company's 401(k) plan.
Swot Analysis of "Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland" written by Robert C. Pozen, Scott Perl includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Haley 401 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Haley 401, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Haley 401 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Haley 401
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 Haley 401
Strengths Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Haley 401 in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Haley 401 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Haley 401 to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Haley 401 to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Haley 401 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 Haley 401 in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Haley 401 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Haley 401 is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Haley 401 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 Robert C. Pozen, Scott Perl 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Haley 401 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Haley 401
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Haley 401 does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Haley 401 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Haley 401 digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Haley 401 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Haley 401 in the sector have low bargaining power. Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Haley 401 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Haley 401 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Haley 401 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 - Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Haley 401 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert C. Pozen, Scott Perl suggests that, Haley 401 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland, in the dynamic environment Haley 401 has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Haley 401 has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Haley 401 products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Haley 401 needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland HBR case study mentions - Haley 401 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 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 Haley 401 supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Haley 401 vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Haley 401 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Haley 401 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Haley 401 has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Haley 401, firm in the HBR case study Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland | 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Haley 401 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Haley 401 in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Haley 401 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Haley 401 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, Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Haley 401 has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Haley 401 to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland case study. Haley 401 can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Haley 401 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 Haley 401 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. Haley 401 can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Haley 401 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Haley 401 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Haley 401 can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Haley 401 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Haley 401 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Haley 401 can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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. Haley 401 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 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Haley 401 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.
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. Haley 401 needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Haley 401 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.
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 Haley 401.
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 Haley 401 in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Haley 401 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
– Haley 401 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Haley 401 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland, Haley 401 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Haley 401 is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Haley 401
– 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 Haley 401.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland 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 Haley 401 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
