Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization
In 2010 Glenn Dubin reflected upon the enduring organization and culture he and co-founder Henry Swieca had infused into Highbridge Capital Management over the course of almost two decades. Since the firm's launch in 1992, New York-based Highbridge had grown to become a diversified investment platform comprising hedge funds, traditional asset management products, and credit and equity investments with longer-term holding periods. The company employed more than 315 people at offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and managed $21 billion for prominent institutional investors, public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. Highbridge was known by many on Wall Street as a "benchmark," largely due to the firm's investment performance and to the diversity and dynamism of the organization. Investors had come to rely on Highbridge's consistent returns and attention to risk management. The firm comprised a group of gifted, committed professionals as a result of Dubin's longtime focus on talent, nurturing a culture of collaboration, building a sophisticated risk management and technology platform, and maintaining a robust operating infrastructure. In 2009, J.P. Morgan completed its purchase of Highbridge-a strategic partnership the two organizations began in 2004 when J.P. Morgan Asset Management purchased a majority interest in the firm. In 2010, Dubin described his desired impact on the increasingly complex and sophisticated organization: "I hope that my legacy will be a bigger and more diversified Highbridge-but one that has the same culture and core principles of excellence, staffed with individuals with high integrity and an interest in successful collaboration. This is the only way I know to ensure that our initial goal of creating an organization that can outlive its founders will be achieved."
Authors :: Roderick M. Kramer, Michael Brimm, Victoria Chang, Julia Bator
Swot Analysis of "Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization" written by Roderick M. Kramer, Michael Brimm, Victoria Chang, Julia Bator includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Highbridge Dubin facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial finance, Financial management, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational structure, Succession planning, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Highbridge Dubin, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Highbridge Dubin 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Highbridge Dubin
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Highbridge Dubin
Strengths Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Highbridge Dubin in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Highbridge Dubin has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Highbridge Dubin to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Dubin in the sector have low bargaining power. Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Highbridge Dubin to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Highbridge Dubin has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Highbridge Dubin is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Highbridge Dubin
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Highbridge Dubin does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Highbridge Dubin has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Highbridge Dubin 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Highbridge Dubin to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Highbridge Dubin to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Highbridge Dubin 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Highbridge Dubin digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Highbridge Dubin 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Highbridge Dubin is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Highbridge Dubin is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Dubin 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Highbridge Dubin 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Highbridge Dubin 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. Highbridge Dubin 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Highbridge Dubin 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 Highbridge Dubin, firm in the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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, Highbridge Dubin is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Highbridge Dubin 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization, it seems that the employees of Highbridge Dubin 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Highbridge Dubin is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization, is just above the industry average. Highbridge Dubin 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.
Opportunities Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization | 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization are -
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. Highbridge Dubin can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Highbridge Dubin 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Highbridge Dubin can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Highbridge Dubin is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Highbridge Dubin can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Highbridge Dubin operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Highbridge Dubin in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Highbridge Dubin can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Highbridge Dubin 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Highbridge Dubin to increase its market reach. Highbridge Dubin 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Highbridge Dubin can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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.
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 Highbridge Dubin in the consumer business. Now Highbridge Dubin can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Highbridge Dubin 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.
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 Highbridge Dubin 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.
Threats Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Highbridge Dubin 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Highbridge Dubin has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Highbridge Dubin needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Highbridge Dubin in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Highbridge Dubin 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.
Environmental challenges
– Highbridge Dubin 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. Highbridge Dubin can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization, Highbridge Dubin may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Highbridge Dubin with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Highbridge Dubin
– 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 Highbridge Dubin.
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. Highbridge Dubin needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Highbridge Dubin.
Regulatory challenges
– Highbridge Dubin 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Highbridge Dubin 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
– Highbridge Dubin 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization 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 Highbridge Dubin needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.