Heritage NOLA (HRGG) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Heritage NOLA (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Heritage NOLA is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Heritage NOLA

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Heritage NOLA can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Heritage NOLA, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Heritage NOLA
2. Improving business portfolio management of Heritage NOLA
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 Heritage NOLA

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Strengths of Heritage NOLA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Heritage NOLA are -

Ability to recruit top talent

– Heritage NOLA 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Heritage NOLA has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Heritage NOLA 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Regional Banks industry

– Heritage NOLA has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Heritage NOLA to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Regional Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Heritage NOLA to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to lead change in Regional Banks

– Heritage NOLA is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Regional Banks industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Heritage NOLA in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Strong track record of project management in the Regional Banks industry

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

Digital Transformation in Regional Banks industry

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

Learning organization

- Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Heritage NOLA emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Heritage NOLA is one of the most innovative firm in Regional Banks sector.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Heritage NOLA in Regional Banks industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Heritage NOLA has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Heritage NOLA 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.

Analytics focus

– Heritage NOLA 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 Regional Banks 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.

High brand equity

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

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Weaknesses of Heritage NOLA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Heritage NOLA are -

Products dominated business model

– Even though Heritage NOLA has some of the most successful models in the Regional Banks industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Heritage NOLA should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Heritage NOLA, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Heritage NOLA has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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 Heritage NOLA supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Heritage NOLA is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Heritage NOLA vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Heritage NOLA has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Regional Banks industry over the last five years. Heritage NOLA 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Heritage NOLA is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but Heritage NOLA needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Heritage NOLA to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Heritage NOLA has high operating costs in the Regional Banks industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Heritage NOLA lucrative customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Heritage NOLA 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Heritage NOLA is planning to shift buying processes online.

Need for greater diversity

– Heritage NOLA 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Heritage NOLA has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Heritage NOLA 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.

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Heritage NOLA Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Heritage NOLA are -

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Heritage NOLA 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 Regional Banks industry.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Heritage NOLA 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Manufacturing automation

– Heritage NOLA can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Regional Banks sector. 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.

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 Heritage NOLA 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Heritage NOLA 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Heritage NOLA 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Heritage NOLA has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help Heritage NOLA to build a more holistic ecosystem for Heritage NOLA products in the Regional Banks 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, Heritage NOLA can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Heritage NOLA operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Regional Banks sector.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Heritage NOLA to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Heritage NOLA 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. Heritage NOLA 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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Threats Heritage NOLA External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Heritage NOLA are -

Increasing wage structure of Heritage NOLA

– 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 Heritage NOLA.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Regional Banks industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Heritage NOLA can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Heritage NOLA business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Heritage NOLA 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Heritage NOLA 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.

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 Heritage NOLA in the Regional Banks sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Heritage NOLA has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Regional Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Heritage NOLA 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Regional Banks industry are lowering. It can presents Heritage NOLA 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 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Heritage NOLA is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Heritage NOLA 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. Heritage NOLA can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Heritage NOLA 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Heritage NOLA 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 Heritage NOLA prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Heritage NOLA Template, Example

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

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