Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras
In 2002, both the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic faced financial crises that threatened their existence. Both organizations provided similar programming, had approximately the same revenues, and were rooted in their communities, which were of similar populations. However, the turnaround approaches taken by the boards of the two organizations were starkly different. The Calgary Philharmonic sought bankruptcy protection, dismissed the CEO, hired consultants, sought emergency funding from government, and suspended operations for four months during a restructuring period. In the end, it emerged successfully from bankruptcy. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra scraped through the crisis, continuing to pay its musicians for ongoing performances while negotiating new contracts, retaining its CEO, and not soliciting emergency funding from the government. Three years after the crisis both organizations were flourishing, with new music directors, balanced budgets, and growing endowment funds. Outlines the stories of the two orchestras and their turnarounds.
Swot Analysis of "Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras" written by Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Philharmonic Orchestras facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Philharmonic Orchestras, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Philharmonic Orchestras
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 Philharmonic Orchestras
Strengths Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Philharmonic Orchestras in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Philharmonic Orchestras is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Philharmonic Orchestras digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Philharmonic Orchestras to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Philharmonic Orchestras to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Philharmonic Orchestras in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Philharmonic Orchestras in the sector have low bargaining power. Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Philharmonic Orchestras to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Philharmonic Orchestras is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Weaknesses Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras HBR case study mentions - Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Philharmonic Orchestras products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Philharmonic Orchestras needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Philharmonic Orchestras supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Philharmonic Orchestras vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras, it seems that the employees of Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Philharmonic Orchestras 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 - Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Philharmonic Orchestras 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. Philharmonic Orchestras 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, Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart suggests that, Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Philharmonic Orchestras, firm in the HBR case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras, is just above the industry average. Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Opportunities Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras | 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Philharmonic Orchestras has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Philharmonic Orchestras to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras case study. Philharmonic Orchestras can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Philharmonic Orchestras 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. Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Philharmonic Orchestras is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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.
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. Philharmonic Orchestras can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Philharmonic Orchestras can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Threats Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
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. Philharmonic Orchestras can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Philharmonic Orchestras.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Philharmonic Orchestras with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras, Philharmonic Orchestras 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 .
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. Philharmonic Orchestras needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Philharmonic Orchestras is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Philharmonic Orchestras in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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, Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras .
Environmental challenges
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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. Philharmonic Orchestras can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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