HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPEa) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for HarbourVest Global Private Equity (United Kingdom)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , HarbourVest Global Private Equity is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HarbourVest Global Private Equity

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that HarbourVest Global Private Equity can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the HarbourVest Global Private Equity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of HarbourVest Global Private Equity can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of HarbourVest Global Private Equity
2. Improving business portfolio management of HarbourVest Global Private Equity
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of HarbourVest Global Private Equity

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Strengths of HarbourVest Global Private Equity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of HarbourVest Global Private Equity are -

High brand equity

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled HarbourVest Global Private Equity to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Learning organization

- HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at HarbourVest Global Private Equity emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For HarbourVest Global Private Equity digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Organizational Resilience of HarbourVest Global Private Equity

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing HarbourVest Global Private Equity does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Highly skilled collaborators

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Financial Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of HarbourVest Global Private Equity have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of HarbourVest Global Private Equity in Misc. Financial Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Financial Services industry

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of HarbourVest Global Private Equity in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. HarbourVest Global Private Equity has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps HarbourVest Global Private Equity to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Innovation driven organization

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.

Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled HarbourVest Global Private Equity in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – HarbourVest Global Private Equity staying ahead in the Misc. Financial Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Financial Services industry

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled HarbourVest Global Private Equity to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped HarbourVest Global Private Equity to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of HarbourVest Global Private Equity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of HarbourVest Global Private Equity are -

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As HarbourVest Global Private Equity is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Financial Services industry in last five years.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of HarbourVest Global Private Equity is just above the Misc. Financial Services industry average. It 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

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at HarbourVest Global Private Equity, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Financial Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. HarbourVest Global Private Equity has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that HarbourVest Global Private Equity needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Financial Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at HarbourVest Global Private Equity can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as HarbourVest Global Private Equity is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, HarbourVest Global Private Equity has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Financial Services industry over the last five years. HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of HarbourVest Global Private Equity, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Financial Services industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.

Employees’ less understanding of HarbourVest Global Private Equity strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, HarbourVest Global Private Equity needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Financial Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.

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HarbourVest Global Private Equity Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of HarbourVest Global Private Equity are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects HarbourVest Global Private Equity can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Financial Services industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for HarbourVest Global Private Equity in the Misc. Financial Services industry. Now HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Financial Services industry. This can help HarbourVest Global Private Equity to build a more holistic ecosystem for HarbourVest Global Private Equity products in the Misc. Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, HarbourVest Global Private Equity can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that HarbourVest Global Private Equity operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Financial Services sector.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help HarbourVest Global Private Equity to increase its market reach. HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

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. HarbourVest Global Private Equity can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for HarbourVest Global Private Equity in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Developing new processes and practices

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Financial Services 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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, HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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Threats HarbourVest Global Private Equity External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of HarbourVest Global Private Equity are -

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.

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. HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 Misc. Financial Services industry regulations.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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.

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.

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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 Misc. Financial Services 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity in Misc. Financial Services industry. The Misc. Financial Services 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.

Environmental challenges

– HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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. HarbourVest Global Private Equity can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry.

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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that HarbourVest Global Private Equity is facing in Misc. Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of HarbourVest Global Private Equity Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity 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 HarbourVest Global Private Equity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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