New York City Audubon Society SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of New York City Audubon Society
The New York Audubon Society (NYCAS), founded in 1979, became the National Audubon's largest chapter, with a city-wide membership of more than 10,000 members. Prior to 1993, NYCAS' services were provided entirely by volunteers working in a committee structure, with the board composed primarily of committee chairmen. The nature of the organization transformed as it grew in size and complexity from focusing on bird conservation to broader environmental advocacy. In 1993, the board undertook a dramatic change and hired an executive director, primarily for fundraising purposes. Discusses fund accounting and nonprofit accounting practices, as well as the NYCAS' experiences dealing with organizational growth, investment management, grant acquisition and use, fundraising, nonprofit status, and financial disclosure.
Swot Analysis of "New York City Audubon Society" written by Elizabeth K. Keating includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nycas Audubon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in New York City Audubon Society case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Financial management, Growth strategy, Marketing, Sustainability and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the New York City Audubon Society casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of New York City Audubon Society
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in New York City Audubon Society case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nycas Audubon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nycas Audubon 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 New York City Audubon Society can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in New York City Audubon Society case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nycas Audubon
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 Nycas Audubon
Strengths New York City Audubon Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nycas Audubon in New York City Audubon Society Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nycas Audubon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nycas Audubon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in New York City Audubon Society 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.
High brand equity
– Nycas Audubon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nycas Audubon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Nycas Audubon 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 Elizabeth K. Keating 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.
Training and development
– Nycas Audubon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in New York City Audubon Society 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 recruit top talent
– Nycas Audubon is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the New York City Audubon Society are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the New York City Audubon Society 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nycas Audubon 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 New York City Audubon Society HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nycas Audubon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nycas Audubon 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
– New York City Audubon Society firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nycas Audubon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nycas Audubon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Nycas Audubon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nycas Audubon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Nycas Audubon 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 Nycas Audubon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in New York City Audubon Society Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses New York City Audubon Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of New York City Audubon Society are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nycas Audubon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Nycas Audubon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nycas Audubon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nycas Audubon 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. Nycas Audubon 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nycas Audubon 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nycas Audubon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study New York City Audubon Society can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nycas Audubon, firm in the HBR case study New York City Audubon Society needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nycas Audubon 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nycas Audubon products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nycas Audubon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study New York City Audubon Society, is just above the industry average. Nycas Audubon 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nycas Audubon 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nycas Audubon 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study New York City Audubon Society 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 Nycas Audubon 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities New York City Audubon Society | 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 New York City Audubon Society are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nycas Audubon 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, New York City Audubon Society, 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 Nycas Audubon 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.
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. Nycas Audubon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nycas Audubon 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nycas Audubon 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 Nycas Audubon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Nycas Audubon 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nycas Audubon 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nycas Audubon 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.
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. Nycas Audubon can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nycas Audubon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. New York City Audubon Society 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nycas Audubon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nycas Audubon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nycas Audubon 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 New York City Audubon Society - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nycas Audubon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nycas Audubon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nycas Audubon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the New York City Audubon Society case study. Nycas Audubon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats New York City Audubon Society External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study New York City Audubon Society are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nycas Audubon 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.
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 Nycas Audubon business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Nycas Audubon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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. Nycas Audubon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Nycas Audubon 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. Nycas Audubon can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nycas Audubon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nycas Audubon 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nycas Audubon is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Nycas Audubon 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
– Nycas Audubon 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 Organizational Development 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 Nycas Audubon in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nycas Audubon with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nycas Audubon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of New York City Audubon Society 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 New York City Audubon Society 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 New York City Audubon Society 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 New York City Audubon Society 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 New York City Audubon Society 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 Nycas Audubon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
