Case Study Description of Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership
Banco Itau was founded in 1945 and is the second largest private bank in Brazil. As part of its social responsibility strategy, it has created a Community Assistance Program aimed at projects in education and health. To carry out this program, the bank has established cross-sector alliances with partners selected for their technical expertise to operate these programs and to establish relations with the communities. One of the two programs--Education & Participation--has helped civil society organizations that assist needy students with supplementary schooling programs. Itau's primary nonprofit partner, CENPEC, is dedicated to research and strengthening public education. CENPEC provides technical direction and establishes contact with community organizations. The program includes the Itau Education & Participation Prize and constitutes one of the most competitive selection processes in Brazil's Third Sector.
Authors :: Rosa Maria Fischer, Marisa Eboli
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership" written by Rosa Maria Fischer, Marisa Eboli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cenpec Itau facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cenpec Itau, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cenpec Itau 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 Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cenpec Itau
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cenpec Itau
Strengths Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cenpec Itau in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cenpec Itau 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cenpec Itau
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cenpec Itau does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cenpec Itau in the sector have low bargaining power. Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cenpec Itau to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Cenpec Itau has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cenpec Itau to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Cenpec Itau 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 Cenpec Itau is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cenpec Itau digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cenpec Itau 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Cenpec Itau is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cenpec Itau has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cenpec Itau is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Cenpec Itau is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Cenpec Itau in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cenpec Itau is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership, it seems that the employees of Cenpec Itau 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cenpec Itau has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership, in the dynamic environment Cenpec Itau has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cenpec Itau 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
– It come across in the case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cenpec Itau is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cenpec Itau has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Cenpec Itau 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership HBR case study mentions - Cenpec Itau takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Need for greater diversity
– Cenpec Itau 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cenpec Itau 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cenpec Itau has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Cenpec Itau supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cenpec Itau vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cenpec Itau 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.
Opportunities Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Cenpec Itau can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cenpec Itau has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cenpec Itau 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 Cenpec Itau 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 Cenpec Itau to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cenpec Itau 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cenpec Itau 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cenpec Itau is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology 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
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cenpec Itau in the consumer business. Now Cenpec Itau can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Cenpec Itau can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cenpec Itau has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cenpec Itau to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership case study. Cenpec Itau can build new products and services such as - 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, Cenpec Itau can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cenpec Itau operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Cenpec Itau can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cenpec Itau can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cenpec Itau 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.
Threats Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership are -
Increasing wage structure of Cenpec Itau
– 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 Cenpec Itau.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cenpec Itau in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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
– Cenpec Itau 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.
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. Cenpec Itau 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
– Cenpec Itau 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Cenpec Itau 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. Cenpec Itau can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People 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 Cenpec Itau.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cenpec Itau with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Cenpec Itau business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cenpec Itau 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 the industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cenpec Itau is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership 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 the case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership 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 the Harvard case study Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership 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 Education & Participation Award: ITAU-CENPEC-UNICEF Partnership is 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 Cenpec Itau needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.