Case Study Description of Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust
Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc. (LOR), which profited by selling portfolio insurance to institutional investors, attempts to rebuild itself after the 1987 stock market crash by creating new products to meet the unsatisfied needs of equity investors. LOR proposes to sell a new family of products, called the SuperTrust, which would let investors trade an exchange-listed basket security and to buy collateralized put options on broad equity indices. The case examines the needs that gave rise to the SuperTrust project as well as the institutional roadblocks LOR had to overcome to bring this offering to market.
Swot Analysis of "Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust" written by Peter Tufano, Barbara B. Kyrillos includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Supertrust Lor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial markets, Product development, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Supertrust Lor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Supertrust Lor 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Supertrust Lor
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 Supertrust Lor
Strengths Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Supertrust Lor in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Supertrust Lor in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Supertrust Lor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Supertrust Lor 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Supertrust Lor is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Supertrust Lor 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 Supertrust Lor is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Supertrust Lor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Supertrust Lor has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Supertrust Lor in the sector have low bargaining power. Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Supertrust Lor to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Supertrust Lor is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Supertrust Lor 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Supertrust Lor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Supertrust Lor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Supertrust Lor 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Supertrust Lor 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.
Weaknesses Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Supertrust Lor 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. Supertrust Lor 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust HBR case study mentions - Supertrust Lor 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, Supertrust Lor is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Supertrust Lor 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Supertrust Lor 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 - Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Supertrust Lor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Supertrust Lor 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Supertrust Lor, firm in the HBR case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Supertrust Lor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Supertrust Lor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust, it seems that the employees of Supertrust Lor 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Supertrust Lor is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust | 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust are -
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 Supertrust Lor 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.
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. Supertrust Lor can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Supertrust Lor 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Supertrust Lor 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.
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. Supertrust Lor 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. Supertrust Lor 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Supertrust Lor can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Supertrust Lor operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Supertrust Lor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Supertrust Lor 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 Supertrust Lor to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Supertrust Lor in the consumer business. Now Supertrust Lor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Supertrust Lor can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Supertrust Lor has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Supertrust Lor to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust case study. Supertrust Lor can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Supertrust Lor 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Supertrust Lor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Supertrust Lor can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Supertrust Lor 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Supertrust Lor with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Supertrust Lor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Supertrust Lor 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. Supertrust Lor can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Supertrust Lor 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Supertrust Lor in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Supertrust Lor 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Supertrust Lor 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Supertrust Lor 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 Supertrust Lor
– 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 Supertrust Lor.
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 Supertrust Lor in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust, Supertrust Lor 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Supertrust Lor 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: SuperTrust 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 Supertrust Lor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
