The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva
Mike Silva, the NY Fed's senior supervisory officer for Goldman Sachs, is having trouble with Carmen Segarra, a recently hired bank examiner who reports to Silva. The two disagree about whether Goldman Sachs has a viable overall conflict-of-interest policy; Silva says "yes," and Segarra says "no." Segarra's communication style-aggressive and frank-has irritated both Silva and others in their department, although an independent report had been critical of the NY Fed for being too cozy with the banking institutions it regulated. The tension between Silva and Segarra has reached a breaking point, and Silva must decide how to handle Segarra and whether to fire her. A teaching note accompanies this case and details how it is taught in Darden's ethics and leading organizations courses.
Swot Analysis of "The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva" written by Morela Hernandez, Bidhan Parmar, Jenny Mead includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Silva Segarra facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Corporate governance, Ethics, Financial management, Human resource management, Leadership, Leading teams, Operations management, Performance measurement, Regulation and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Silva Segarra, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Silva Segarra 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Silva Segarra
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 Silva Segarra
Strengths The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Silva Segarra in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Silva Segarra has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Silva Segarra 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Silva Segarra digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Silva Segarra 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Silva Segarra 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Silva Segarra in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Silva Segarra is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Silva Segarra 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Silva Segarra is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Silva Segarra has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Silva Segarra 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Silva Segarra in the sector have low bargaining power. The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Silva Segarra to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Silva Segarra 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 Silva Segarra is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Silva Segarra 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 Morela Hernandez, Bidhan Parmar, Jenny Mead 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.
Weaknesses The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Silva Segarra is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Silva Segarra 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Silva Segarra, firm in the HBR case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Silva Segarra has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva HBR case study mentions - Silva Segarra 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Silva Segarra 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Silva Segarra products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Silva Segarra needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Silva Segarra is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Silva Segarra has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Silva Segarra even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva, it seems that the employees of Silva Segarra 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.
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 Silva Segarra supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Silva Segarra vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva | 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva are -
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. Silva Segarra can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Silva Segarra in the consumer business. Now Silva Segarra 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 Silva Segarra has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Silva Segarra to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva case study. Silva Segarra can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Silva Segarra 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Silva Segarra can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Silva Segarra operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Silva Segarra 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 Silva Segarra to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Silva Segarra 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Silva Segarra 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Silva Segarra 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Silva Segarra 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, The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Silva Segarra to increase its market reach. Silva Segarra 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 Silva Segarra can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Silva Segarra 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.
Threats The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva are -
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 Silva Segarra in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Silva Segarra 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Silva Segarra can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Environmental challenges
– Silva Segarra 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. Silva Segarra can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Silva Segarra with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva, Silva Segarra 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Silva Segarra has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Silva Segarra 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 Silva Segarra 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Silva Segarra in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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. Silva Segarra 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
– Silva Segarra 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.
Increasing wage structure of Silva Segarra
– 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 Silva Segarra.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Silva Segarra is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 The Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs: Mike Silva 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 Silva Segarra needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.