Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , CIB Marine Bancshares is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CIB Marine Bancshares
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that CIB Marine Bancshares can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the CIB Marine Bancshares, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of CIB Marine Bancshares
2. Improving business portfolio management of CIB Marine Bancshares
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of CIB Marine Bancshares
Strengths of CIB Marine Bancshares | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of CIB Marine Bancshares are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Regional Banks industry
– CIB Marine Bancshares has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled CIB Marine Bancshares to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Regional Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped CIB Marine Bancshares to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– CIB Marine Bancshares has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled CIB Marine Bancshares to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– CIB Marine Bancshares is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in United States. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United States. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of CIB Marine Bancshares comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Regional Banks 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– CIB Marine Bancshares has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – CIB Marine Bancshares staying ahead in the Regional Banks industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– CIB Marine Bancshares is present in almost all the verticals within the Regional Banks industry. This has provided CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Regional Banks industry
– CIB Marine Bancshares is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– CIB Marine Bancshares has one of the best training and development program in Financial industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Organizational Resilience of CIB Marine Bancshares
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing CIB Marine Bancshares does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of CIB Marine Bancshares in Regional Banks industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– CIB Marine Bancshares has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Regional Banks industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of CIB Marine Bancshares have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of CIB Marine Bancshares | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CIB Marine Bancshares are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at CIB Marine Bancshares, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. CIB Marine Bancshares has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, CIB Marine Bancshares 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 Regional Banks industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of CIB Marine Bancshares, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Regional Banks 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.
Need for greater diversity
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that CIB Marine Bancshares needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Regional Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at CIB Marine Bancshares can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as CIB Marine Bancshares is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Regional Banks industry, CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CIB Marine Bancshares is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Regional Banks industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of CIB Marine Bancshares is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but CIB Marine Bancshares needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help CIB Marine Bancshares to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, CIB Marine Bancshares needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 CIB Marine Bancshares supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, CIB Marine Bancshares is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left CIB Marine Bancshares vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of CIB Marine Bancshares strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
CIB Marine Bancshares Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of CIB Marine Bancshares are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for CIB Marine Bancshares 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, CIB Marine Bancshares is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CIB Marine Bancshares can utilize new technology in the field of Regional Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Regional Banks industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for CIB Marine Bancshares in the Regional Banks industry. Now CIB Marine Bancshares can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– CIB Marine Bancshares has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled CIB Marine Bancshares to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help CIB Marine Bancshares to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects CIB Marine Bancshares 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 Regional Banks industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. CIB Marine Bancshares can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, CIB Marine Bancshares can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that CIB Marine Bancshares operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Regional Banks sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Regional Banks industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. CIB Marine Bancshares can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. CIB Marine Bancshares can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for CIB Marine Bancshares in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Regional Banks industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– CIB Marine Bancshares can develop new processes and procedures in Regional Banks 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
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
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 CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Threats CIB Marine Bancshares External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of CIB Marine Bancshares are -
Increasing wage structure of CIB Marine Bancshares
– 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 CIB Marine Bancshares.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that CIB Marine Bancshares is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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 Regional Banks industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Regional Banks industry are lowering. It can presents CIB Marine Bancshares with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Regional Banks sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– CIB Marine Bancshares has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Regional Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, CIB Marine Bancshares needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Regional Banks 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 CIB Marine Bancshares 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 Regional Banks industry and other sectors.
Regulatory challenges
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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 Regional Banks industry regulations.
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 CIB Marine Bancshares business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. CIB Marine Bancshares needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Regional Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for CIB Marine Bancshares in Regional Banks industry. The Regional Banks 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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.
Environmental challenges
– CIB Marine Bancshares 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. CIB Marine Bancshares can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CIB Marine Bancshares Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares 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 CIB Marine Bancshares needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
