Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets
Vlaad and Company (Vlaad & Co.), a recruiting firm specializing in the Canadian capital markets, has embarked upon a women in capital markets initiative with the intention of moving more women into capital markets jobs. The case describes the early stages of this initiative and provides six examples of capital markets job candidates, four women and two men. The director and head of the women in capital markets initiative, must decide which of these six candidates, if any, to present to client firms. She must also think about the design of the women in capital markets initiative.
Swot Analysis of "Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets" written by Alison Konrad, Amy Wilson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vlaad Women facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Financial markets, Gender, Hiring, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vlaad Women, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vlaad Women 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vlaad Women
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 Vlaad Women
Strengths Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vlaad Women in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vlaad Women is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vlaad Women to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vlaad Women to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Vlaad Women 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.
Organizational Resilience of Vlaad Women
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Vlaad Women does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Vlaad Women has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Vlaad Women to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vlaad Women has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vlaad Women 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Vlaad Women in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Vlaad Women 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vlaad Women 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
- Vlaad Women 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 Vlaad Women is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Vlaad Women has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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
– Vlaad Women is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Vlaad Women products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Vlaad Women needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vlaad Women, firm in the HBR case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad Women has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Vlaad Women 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. Vlaad Women 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets, in the dynamic environment Vlaad Women has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Vlaad Women has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Vlaad Women 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets HBR case study mentions - Vlaad Women 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, Vlaad Women is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Vlaad Women 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets, is just above the industry average. Vlaad Women 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Vlaad Women is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets | 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets are -
Loyalty marketing
– Vlaad Women 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Vlaad Women can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vlaad Women can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vlaad Women operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vlaad Women 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vlaad Women to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vlaad Women has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Vlaad Women to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets case study. Vlaad Women can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Vlaad Women 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
– Vlaad Women 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Vlaad Women is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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.
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. Vlaad Women can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Vlaad Women can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vlaad Women 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vlaad Women 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
– Vlaad Women 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.
Threats Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets are -
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets, Vlaad Women 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Vlaad Women 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vlaad Women has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vlaad Women 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.
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 Vlaad Women in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Vlaad Women 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Vlaad Women 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.
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 Vlaad Women business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Vlaad Women can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Vlaad Women with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Vlaad Women 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.
Increasing wage structure of Vlaad Women
– 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 Vlaad Women.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vlaad Women 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad and Company: Recruiting Women in the Capital Markets 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 Vlaad Women needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.