Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview
Provides statistics and other factual information on the Department of Defense procurement process, DOD expenditures, market share segmentation, the variety of contract types, and the role of the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
Swot Analysis of "Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview" written by Robert L. Simons, Hilary A. Weston includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Defense Procurement facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs, Government, Negotiations and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Defense Procurement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Defense Procurement
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 Defense Procurement
Strengths Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Defense Procurement in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Defense Procurement is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Defense Procurement is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Defense Procurement is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Analytics focus
– Defense Procurement 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 Robert L. Simons, Hilary A. Weston 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.
Organizational Resilience of Defense Procurement
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Defense Procurement does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Defense Procurement to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Defense Procurement to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Defense Procurement is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Defense Procurement has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Weaknesses Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Defense Procurement 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.
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 Defense Procurement supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Defense Procurement vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, it seems that the employees of Defense Procurement 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Defense Procurement products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Defense Procurement needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Defense Procurement is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Defense Procurement needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Defense Procurement to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview HBR case study mentions - Defense Procurement 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, is just above the industry average. Defense Procurement needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Need for greater diversity
– Defense Procurement 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Defense Procurement 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 - Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Defense Procurement, firm in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview | 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Defense Procurement can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Defense Procurement 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Defense Procurement is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Defense Procurement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Defense Procurement can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Defense Procurement 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Defense Procurement has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Defense Procurement to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview case study. Defense Procurement can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Defense Procurement 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Defense Procurement 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Defense Procurement 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Defense Procurement to increase its market reach. Defense Procurement 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Defense Procurement can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Buying journey improvements
– Defense Procurement can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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.
Threats Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Defense Procurement has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Defense Procurement 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Defense Procurement 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
– Defense Procurement 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. Defense Procurement can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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 Defense Procurement in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Defense Procurement business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Defense Procurement 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 Defense Procurement 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview, Defense Procurement 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 .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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. Defense Procurement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Defense Procurement 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.
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 Defense Procurement.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Facts and Figures on Defense Procurement: The Department of Defense and Defense Procurement, An Overview 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 Defense Procurement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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