Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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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 - – technology disruption, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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.
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.
Training and development
– Philharmonic Orchestras has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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.
Organizational Resilience of Philharmonic Orchestras
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Philharmonic Orchestras does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Philharmonic Orchestras has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Philharmonic Orchestras is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Philharmonic Orchestras is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Philharmonic Orchestras 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, Philharmonic Orchestras 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 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.
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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Philharmonic Orchestras is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Philharmonic Orchestras has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
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 -
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Turning Around Organizations in a Crisis: The Case of Two Major Alberta Orchestras - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Philharmonic Orchestras to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Philharmonic Orchestras can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Philharmonic Orchestras can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Philharmonic Orchestras 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 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.
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 -
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Philharmonic Orchestras 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 Philharmonic Orchestras in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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
– 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.
Increasing wage structure of Philharmonic Orchestras
– 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 Philharmonic Orchestras.
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.
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. Philharmonic Orchestras 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.
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.
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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