Swot Analysis of "Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services" written by Benoit Leleux, Bruno Tindemans includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fortis Heij facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fortis Heij, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fortis Heij
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fortis Heij
Strengths Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fortis Heij in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fortis Heij to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fortis Heij to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Fortis Heij is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fortis Heij digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fortis Heij has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fortis Heij in the sector have low bargaining power. Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fortis Heij to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Heij in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Heij 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.
Learning organization
- Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Heij is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Fortis Heij has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Fortis Heij is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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.
Weaknesses Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Fortis Heij products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fortis Heij needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Heij has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Fortis Heij 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fortis Heij 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 - Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Fortis Heij 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Fortis Heij, firm in the HBR case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fortis Heij is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fortis Heij 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. Fortis Heij 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Heij 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services, is just above the industry average. Fortis Heij 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fortis Heij 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.
Opportunities Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services | 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services are -
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 Fortis Heij in the consumer business. Now Fortis Heij can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fortis Heij can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fortis Heij 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, Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fortis Heij to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Fortis Heij can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fortis Heij can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Fortis Heij 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fortis Heij 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Fortis Heij 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fortis Heij 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Fortis Heij can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fortis Heij to increase its market reach. Fortis Heij 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fortis Heij can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services, Fortis Heij may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Fortis Heij 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.
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 Fortis Heij business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Fortis Heij
– 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 Fortis Heij.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Fortis Heij has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fortis Heij needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Environmental challenges
– Fortis Heij 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. Fortis Heij can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fortis Heij 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 Fortis Heij with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Fortis Heij 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fortis Heij is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Fortis Heij 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fortis Heij can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Venturing (B2): Jack Heij and Fortis Escrow Services 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 Fortis Heij needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
