Strategic Management and Leadership

SWOT Analysis and Portfolio Analysis

Every organization must have a business strategy. The main goal of any business is to be profitable. Companies adapt strategies that will separate them from the competitors, creating success for the organization. It is important that the leaders of any company understand the operation, the strategies, the motto, the goal and every other aspect of the business. Metropolitan Life Insurance (Metlife) is global insurance provider, which is a publicly traded company. This is a big corporation that is viewed publicly daily. The leaders of this organization would benefit from both a SWOT analysis and a Portfolio Analysis.

SWOT Analysis

One of the biggest strengths that MetLife has to offer today is the brand. MetLife brand is a known brand and recognizable brand. The company has been around for over 140 years and operates in over 60 countries (Metlife, 2010). The company is known for selling life insurance policies; however they sell many other types of policies and provide other types of financial services. The company can utilize their strength which is their name and their reputation for being a reputable organization

MetLife has just gained a great opportunity. In 2010 MetLife acquired Alico Insurance, which is located in many parts of the world that MetLife had not captured the market yet. This is a great opportunity for MetLife to expand, gain recognition in new countries and increase profitability by dominating the market with the help of Alico. Alico is a great opportunity for MetLife to expand its service and gain new customers.

One of the biggest weaknesses of MetLife is that they outsource a major part of their operational services such as, customer service and information technology services. MetLife has a high demand for competent, talented technology workers and was attracted to the low cost of labor in India. The company has offshored a major part of its customer service and information technology needs to India. "Senior management at MetLife says that the cost savings affiliated with outsourcing IT-related activities are too attractive for companies to ignore" (InformationWeek, 2002). Although it is cost effective to outsource some parts of the business needs there are disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages of outsourcing to foreign countries is the language barrier, and the impact of this barrier. Many of the companies that have outsourced parts of their business operation to India have found the language barrier is a significant problem (Dubie, 2007).

One of the threats to MetLife is that there competitors are also reputable in the industry. Some of MetLife's competitors are USAA, Prudential Life Insurance and American International Group (AIG). MetLife has also hired a significant amount of AIG's upper management staff. When the market crashed and AIG was in trouble these employees sought refuge in MetLife. Many analysts sees this decision that MetLife made to hire these leaders of AIG, that led the company to destruction as a major threat to the company.

Portfolio Analysis

MetLife is a strong organization with great cash flow. The company does not make risky investments; they are conservative and cautious with their investments. The company keeps a lot of cash on their books and eliminates debt. MetLife sells a wide range of insurance policies including car, home, and life. MetLife also offers a wide range of financial services including annuities, IRA's, mutual funds and brokerage and banking. The company operates worldwide in more than 60 countries.