Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry
Supplements the (A) case.An abstract is not available for this product.
Authors :: James A. Phills
Topics :: Finance & Accounting
Tags :: International business, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry" written by James A. Phills includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Unitus 2.0 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Social enterprise and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Unitus 2.0, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Unitus 2.0
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 Unitus 2.0
Strengths Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Unitus 2.0 in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Unitus 2.0 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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.
Learning organization
- Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus 2.0 is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Unitus 2.0 in the sector have low bargaining power. Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Unitus 2.0 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Unitus 2.0 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Unitus 2.0 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Unitus 2.0 digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Unitus 2.0 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Unitus 2.0 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Unitus 2.0 to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Unitus 2.0 to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Unitus 2.0 has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Unitus 2.0 is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus 2.0 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Unitus 2.0 products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Unitus 2.0 needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Unitus 2.0 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Unitus 2.0 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Phills suggests that, Unitus 2.0 is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry, it seems that the employees of Unitus 2.0 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Unitus 2.0 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Unitus 2.0 has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Unitus 2.0 is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Unitus 2.0 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.
Opportunities Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry | 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Unitus 2.0 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. Unitus 2.0 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Unitus 2.0 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus 2.0 has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Unitus 2.0 to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry case study. Unitus 2.0 can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Unitus 2.0 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, Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Unitus 2.0 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus 2.0 to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Unitus 2.0 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Unitus 2.0 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.
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. Unitus 2.0 can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Unitus 2.0 can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Unitus 2.0 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Unitus 2.0 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus 2.0.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Unitus 2.0 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Unitus 2.0 needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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. Unitus 2.0 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Unitus 2.0 is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry, Unitus 2.0 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 .
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Unitus 2.0 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry .
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 Unitus 2.0 business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Unitus 2.0 needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Unitus 2.0 in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Unitus 2.0 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Unitus 2.0 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Unitus 2.0 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0--Reinventing an Industry 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 Unitus 2.0 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
