Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism
Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) started as a small public station that 26-year-old William Kling established at St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota in 1967. By 2004, Kling's venture had grown into a regional network of 38 stations, serving more than five million people. The organization had more than 83,000 members and boasted the highest percentage of listener membership of any community-supported public radio network in the nation. Much of MPR's growth and success had been built through what Kling referred to as "social purpose capitalism...the application of the traditional principles of capitalism...to a nonprofit organization [to] benefit the public sector." Kling's first foray into "social purpose capitalism" was in 1981 when Garrison Keillor, the popular host of "A Prairie Home Companion," wanted to reward loyal listeners with a free poster of "Powdermilk Biscuits," an allusion to a fictitious sponsor that was part of a Prairie Home gag. The giveaway drew over 50,000 responses, much more than originally anticipated, costing $60,000. To avert financial ruin, Kling printed an offer for other products that listeners could buy on the back of the poster. Netting $15,000 to $20,000 from that poster convinced Kling that there were opportunities to secure MPR's financial situation. Kling created a number of for-profit ventures to support and build the MPR empire. By 2004, however, MPR and Kling were the subject of unrelenting public criticism. Ostensibly, the issue was MPR's unwillingness to disclose Kling's compensation from the private for-profit enterprises spawned by MPR. After disclosing this information, Kling became the subject of condemnation amid accusations of conflicts of interest and nepotism. Knowledgeable observers, however, saw the real concern to be fear that a public benefit organization was being driven by profit-making priorities.
Swot Analysis of "Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism" written by James A. Phills, Victoria Chang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kling Mpr facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Social enterprise and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kling Mpr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kling Mpr
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 Kling Mpr
Strengths Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kling Mpr in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Kling Mpr has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kling Mpr to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Kling Mpr 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 Kling Mpr is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Kling Mpr is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Kling Mpr is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Kling Mpr has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Kling Mpr 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kling Mpr in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kling Mpr 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kling Mpr in the sector have low bargaining power. Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kling Mpr to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Kling Mpr is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kling Mpr to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kling Mpr to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism, in the dynamic environment Kling Mpr has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kling Mpr has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism, is just above the industry average. Kling Mpr needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism HBR case study mentions - Kling Mpr 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kling Mpr 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 - Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kling Mpr is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Kling Mpr supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kling Mpr vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kling Mpr 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. Kling Mpr 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Phills, Victoria Chang suggests that, Kling Mpr 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Kling Mpr has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kling Mpr is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Kling Mpr needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kling Mpr to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kling Mpr has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism | 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kling Mpr in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kling Mpr 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. Kling Mpr 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kling Mpr 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kling Mpr 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 Kling Mpr to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Kling Mpr can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kling Mpr can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kling Mpr operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kling Mpr has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kling Mpr to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism case study. Kling Mpr can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Kling Mpr can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kling Mpr to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kling Mpr 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, Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Kling Mpr 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kling Mpr to increase its market reach. Kling Mpr will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism are -
Environmental challenges
– Kling Mpr 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. Kling Mpr can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kling Mpr 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.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kling Mpr 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism, Kling Mpr may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kling Mpr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kling Mpr 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.
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 Kling Mpr.
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. Kling Mpr needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development 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, Kling Mpr 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kling Mpr 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.
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 Kling Mpr in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Kling Mpr business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism 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 Kling Mpr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
