Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year
Abby Falik, founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year (GCY), quickly read through the most recent news updates regarding the Ebola crisis in West Africa as she prepared for her board call on July 31, 2014. Based in Oakland, California, GCY was a five-year-old not-for-profit with a fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget of $3.5 million. Its mission was to make it much more the norm for graduating high school students in the U.S. to choose a "bridge year." GCY believed this experience after high school, but before college, would help students build self-awareness, learn about the world, and develop grit. In turn, GCY felt these attributes laid the foundation for success in college, and beyond.
Swot Analysis of "Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year" written by Robert Steven Kaplan, Lauren Barley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gcy Abby facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gcy Abby, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gcy Abby 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gcy Abby
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Gcy Abby
Strengths Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gcy Abby in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Gcy Abby 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 industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Robert Steven Kaplan, Lauren Barley can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gcy Abby has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gcy Abby 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 Organizational Development industry
– Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gcy Abby to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gcy Abby to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gcy Abby has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Gcy Abby 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 Gcy Abby is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gcy Abby 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.
Training and development
– Gcy Abby has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Gcy Abby 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 Gcy Abby in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gcy Abby is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gcy Abby 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gcy Abby digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gcy Abby 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.
Weaknesses Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert Steven Kaplan, Lauren Barley suggests that, Gcy Abby is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gcy Abby 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 - Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Gcy Abby is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Gcy Abby needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gcy Abby to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gcy Abby 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 industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gcy Abby is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gcy Abby 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Gcy Abby 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gcy Abby 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. Gcy Abby 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Gcy Abby has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gcy Abby is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gcy Abby 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.
Opportunities Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year | 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Gcy Abby can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gcy Abby 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 Gcy Abby to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Gcy Abby 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gcy Abby to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gcy Abby 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 Organizational Development segment.
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 Gcy Abby 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Gcy Abby 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, as suggested in case study, Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gcy Abby can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gcy Abby is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Gcy Abby can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gcy Abby has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Gcy Abby to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year case study. Gcy Abby can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Gcy Abby 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
– Gcy Abby 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.
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 Gcy Abby in the consumer business. Now Gcy Abby can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year are -
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 Gcy Abby business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gcy Abby in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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 wage structure of Gcy Abby
– 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 Gcy Abby.
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 Gcy Abby in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gcy Abby 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gcy Abby with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Gcy Abby needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gcy Abby 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 field.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gcy Abby 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 prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year .
Environmental challenges
– Gcy Abby 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. Gcy Abby can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gcy Abby has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gcy Abby needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Gcy Abby can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year 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 Gcy Abby needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
