Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact
In November 2004, as presidential hopeful John Kerry conceded the presidential race to George W. Bush, husband and wife team and Democratic supporters Tom Steyer (MBA '83) and Kat Taylor (JD/MBA '86) found themselves at an impasse in their political endeavors. The lost presidential bid was not only disappointing but left the couple seeking out new avenues to benefit from their time, passion, and energy. For Taylor, the idea of a beneficial bank was not new; in fact, the notion of starting a bank to help underserved communities had been suggested to her almost 20 years earlier when Taylor sought career advice from then-economic advisor to Governor Jerry Brown of California, Michael Kieschnick. At the time, the idea seemed implausible but now, with their newly unleashed resources, the idea of community banking as a leverage point in both communities and the overall financial system seemed almost compulsory. Specifically, they wanted to create a triple bottom-line bank that produced social justice and environmental well-being while also being economically sustainable not just in the community but across the financial system. Still, determining how best to structure the organization in order to ensure the fulfillment of its intended benefits presented a significant challenge to the couple. This case describes the founding vision and organizational structure for a triple bottom-line bank. It covers governance issues, regulatory considerations including Dodd-Frank, a discussion of the bank's business model including competitive strategy and the importance of human capital, and measures of impact.
Swot Analysis of "Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact" written by Maureen McNichols, Jaclyn C. Foroughi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Presidential Taylor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Presidential Taylor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Presidential Taylor 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Presidential Taylor
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 Presidential Taylor
Strengths Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Presidential Taylor in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Presidential Taylor 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Presidential Taylor is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Presidential Taylor in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Presidential Taylor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Presidential Taylor 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Presidential Taylor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Presidential Taylor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Presidential Taylor has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Presidential Taylor to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Presidential Taylor 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 Maureen McNichols, Jaclyn C. Foroughi 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Presidential Taylor is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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.
Training and development
– Presidential Taylor has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Presidential Taylor 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)
– Presidential Taylor 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Presidential Taylor in the sector have low bargaining power. Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Presidential Taylor to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Presidential Taylor 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Maureen McNichols, Jaclyn C. Foroughi suggests that, Presidential Taylor 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Presidential Taylor 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Presidential Taylor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Presidential Taylor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Presidential Taylor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Presidential Taylor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Presidential Taylor to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Presidential Taylor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Presidential Taylor 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 - Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact, it seems that the employees of Presidential Taylor 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 Presidential Taylor 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Presidential Taylor 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Presidential Taylor products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Presidential Taylor needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact | 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact are -
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. Presidential Taylor 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
– Presidential Taylor can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Presidential Taylor 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, Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Presidential Taylor has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Presidential Taylor to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact case study. Presidential Taylor can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Presidential Taylor 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. Presidential Taylor 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Presidential Taylor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Presidential Taylor 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.
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 Presidential Taylor in the consumer business. Now Presidential Taylor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Presidential Taylor 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Presidential Taylor in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Presidential Taylor 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Presidential Taylor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Presidential Taylor 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.
Threats Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact are -
Increasing wage structure of Presidential Taylor
– 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 Presidential Taylor.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Presidential Taylor 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
– Presidential Taylor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Presidential Taylor 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Presidential Taylor demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Presidential Taylor 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. Presidential Taylor can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Presidential Taylor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Presidential Taylor is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Presidential Taylor with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Presidential Taylor needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Presidential Taylor.
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 Presidential Taylor in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Presidential Taylor 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Beneficial State Bank (A): Organization and Measurement of Social Impact 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 Presidential Taylor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.