Swot Analysis of "Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World" written by Anette Mikes, Gwen Yu, Dominique Hamel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Oxley Sarbanes facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Financial analysis, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oxley Sarbanes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oxley Sarbanes 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oxley Sarbanes
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Oxley Sarbanes
Strengths Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oxley Sarbanes in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Oxley Sarbanes is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Oxley Sarbanes has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Oxley Sarbanes digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Oxley Sarbanes 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.
High brand equity
– Oxley Sarbanes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Oxley Sarbanes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oxley Sarbanes is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Finance & Accounting industry
– Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Oxley Sarbanes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Oxley Sarbanes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Oxley Sarbanes is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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.
Organizational Resilience of Oxley Sarbanes
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Oxley Sarbanes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Oxley Sarbanes is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Oxley Sarbanes needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Oxley Sarbanes to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Oxley Sarbanes 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World, in the dynamic environment Oxley Sarbanes has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Oxley Sarbanes has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World HBR case study mentions - Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Oxley Sarbanes is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Oxley Sarbanes 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 - Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Oxley Sarbanes, firm in the HBR case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Opportunities Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World | 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Oxley Sarbanes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Oxley Sarbanes to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World case study. Oxley Sarbanes can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Oxley Sarbanes 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Oxley Sarbanes to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes to increase its market reach. Oxley Sarbanes 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 Oxley Sarbanes can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Oxley Sarbanes in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Oxley Sarbanes can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Oxley Sarbanes operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
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. Oxley Sarbanes can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Oxley Sarbanes can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Oxley Sarbanes 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, Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Oxley Sarbanes.
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. Oxley Sarbanes 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 Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Oxley Sarbanes can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Oxley Sarbanes business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Oxley Sarbanes needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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. Oxley Sarbanes needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Oxley Sarbanes 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Oxley Sarbanes 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.
Environmental challenges
– Oxley Sarbanes 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. Oxley Sarbanes can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World, Oxley Sarbanes may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Oxley Sarbanes 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Oxley Sarbanes with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Auditing in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley World 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 Oxley Sarbanes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.