UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?
Marco Suter, Executive Vice-Chairman, UBS Board of Directors, carefully studied the chart on his desk. It showed the public commitment of major financial institutions to help mitigate global warming. Evidently, UBS lagged behind its competitors. The graph was part of a report that environmental specialists and senior executives at UBS had compiled. It suggested the company adopt a more progressive policy on climate change. Suter thought about the options that the working group had generated. These ranged from stabilizing the company's current carbon emissions to complete carbon neutrality. The UBS Corporate Responsibility Committee would meet early next week. Suter wondered which option he should support.
Authors :: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Forest Reinhardt, Elizabeth A. Raabe
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: International business, Social responsibility, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?" written by Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Forest Reinhardt, Elizabeth A. Raabe includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ubs Suter facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ubs Suter, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ubs Suter 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ubs Suter
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 Ubs Suter
Strengths UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ubs Suter in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ubs Suter 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Ubs Suter has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ubs Suter to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Ubs Suter is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ubs Suter to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ubs Suter to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ubs Suter has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ubs Suter 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.
Training and development
– Ubs Suter has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ubs Suter is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Ubs Suter 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 Ubs Suter is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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.
Analytics focus
– Ubs Suter is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Forest Reinhardt, Elizabeth A. Raabe can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ubs Suter 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ubs Suter in the sector have low bargaining power. UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ubs Suter to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ubs Suter 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ubs Suter is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ubs Suter 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?, is just above the industry average. Ubs Suter 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ubs Suter is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 Ubs Suter has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ubs Suter 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ubs Suter 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 - UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ubs Suter products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ubs Suter needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ubs Suter is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Ubs Suter needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ubs Suter to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? | 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? are -
Loyalty marketing
– Ubs Suter 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ubs Suter 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.
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 Ubs Suter in the consumer business. Now Ubs Suter can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ubs Suter has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ubs Suter to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? case study. Ubs Suter can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ubs Suter is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ubs Suter can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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.
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. Ubs Suter can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ubs Suter 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ubs Suter 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ubs Suter to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Ubs Suter 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.
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 Ubs Suter 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ubs Suter 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 Ubs Suter to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ubs Suter 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. Ubs Suter 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.
Threats UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? are -
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 Ubs Suter.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ubs Suter 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Ubs Suter
– 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 Ubs Suter.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ubs Suter 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? .
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. Ubs Suter can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?, Ubs Suter 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 .
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. Ubs Suter 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ubs Suter 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.
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. Ubs Suter needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ubs Suter with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Ubs Suter 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. Ubs Suter can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action? 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 Ubs Suter needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.