Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AllianceBernstein Holding LP is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AllianceBernstein Holding LP
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that AllianceBernstein Holding LP can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the AllianceBernstein Holding LP, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of AllianceBernstein Holding LP
2. Improving business portfolio management of AllianceBernstein Holding LP
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Investment Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of AllianceBernstein Holding LP
Strengths of AllianceBernstein Holding LP | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of AllianceBernstein Holding LP are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Investment Services industry
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Investment Services
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Investment Services industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled AllianceBernstein Holding LP in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of AllianceBernstein Holding LP in Investment Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of AllianceBernstein Holding LP
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing AllianceBernstein Holding LP does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of AllianceBernstein Holding LP comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Investment Services 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.
Analytics focus
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 Investment Services industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at AllianceBernstein Holding LP emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the AllianceBernstein Holding LP are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP is one of the most innovative firm in Investment Services sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – AllianceBernstein Holding LP staying ahead in the Investment Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of AllianceBernstein Holding LP | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of AllianceBernstein Holding LP are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
AllianceBernstein Holding LP has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Investment Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though AllianceBernstein Holding LP has some of the most successful models in the Investment Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. AllianceBernstein Holding LP should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, AllianceBernstein Holding LP has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Investment Services industry over the last five years. AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Investment 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, AllianceBernstein Holding LP is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help AllianceBernstein Holding LP to provide better information regarding Investment Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of AllianceBernstein Holding LP is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Investment Services industry, but AllianceBernstein Holding LP needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help AllianceBernstein Holding LP to focus more on services in the Investment Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of AllianceBernstein Holding LP strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at AllianceBernstein Holding LP, in the dynamic environment of Investment Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Investment Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at AllianceBernstein Holding LP can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as AllianceBernstein Holding LP is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 Investment Services industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of AllianceBernstein Holding LP products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, AllianceBernstein Holding LP needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
AllianceBernstein Holding LP Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of AllianceBernstein Holding LP are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of AllianceBernstein Holding LP has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Investment Services industry. This can help AllianceBernstein Holding LP to build a more holistic ecosystem for AllianceBernstein Holding LP products in the Investment Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, AllianceBernstein Holding LP is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. AllianceBernstein Holding LP can utilize new technology in the field of Investment Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 Investment Services industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for AllianceBernstein Holding LP in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Investment Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help AllianceBernstein Holding LP to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP can develop new processes and procedures in Investment 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects AllianceBernstein Holding LP can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Investment Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. AllianceBernstein Holding LP can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. AllianceBernstein Holding LP can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, AllianceBernstein Holding LP can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that AllianceBernstein Holding LP operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Investment Services sector.
Threats AllianceBernstein Holding LP External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of AllianceBernstein Holding LP are -
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. AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
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. AllianceBernstein Holding LP needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Investment Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, AllianceBernstein Holding LP may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Investment Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that AllianceBernstein Holding LP is facing in Investment Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 Investment Services industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of AllianceBernstein Holding LP business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Investment Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. AllianceBernstein Holding LP can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Investment Services industry are lowering. It can presents AllianceBernstein Holding LP with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Investment Services sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP prominent markets.
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.
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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP in the Investment Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of AllianceBernstein Holding LP Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP 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 AllianceBernstein Holding LP needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.