FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version
FUTUR is a small nonprofit organization founded in Barcelona in 1996. Its aim is to create social and labor opportunities for potentially excluded individuals such as ex-convicts, single mothers with no income, battered women, the homeless, people over 45 years old affected by long-term unemployment, drug and alcohol addicts, and immigrants mostly from Latin America and Northern Africa with problems adapting to life in Barcelona. The type of jobs FUTUR has provided these individuals has changed over time. The organization started operating in the textile sector and later shifted its focus entirely to food services. It has also been committed to fair-trade and environmentally-friendly products. FUTUR opened several restaurants and later expanded into catering services and, more recently, to school cafeterias, the latter becoming a very successful venture. They were also ready to launch a new business to supplement these initiatives. It was based on selling organic, fair-trade products on the streets with salespeople riding specially adapted bicycles. However, the organization needed to find new facilities equipped with an industrial kitchen as it had to move from the building it was currently renting for a nominal price. With so many initiatives underway, Manuel Almirall pondered the pros and cons of diversification for an organization like FUTUR and whether it should concentrate on a single venture. Specifically, he wondered what strategy would be more effective to fulfill the organization's mission while maintaining sustainable growth and moving its central kitchen for its restaurants and catering services.
Swot Analysis of "FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version" written by Daniel Arenas, Alfred Vernis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Futur Barcelona facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Futur Barcelona, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Futur Barcelona 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Futur Barcelona
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Futur Barcelona
Strengths FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Futur Barcelona in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Futur Barcelona has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Futur Barcelona has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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.
Organizational Resilience of Futur Barcelona
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Futur Barcelona does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Futur Barcelona 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Futur Barcelona is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Futur Barcelona is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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)
– Futur Barcelona 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Futur Barcelona in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Futur Barcelona is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Futur Barcelona 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 Futur Barcelona in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Futur Barcelona digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Futur Barcelona 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Futur Barcelona is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 Futur Barcelona 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Futur Barcelona 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Futur Barcelona is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Futur Barcelona needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Futur Barcelona to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Futur Barcelona supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Futur Barcelona vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Futur Barcelona 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 - FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Futur Barcelona 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Futur Barcelona 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Futur Barcelona 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Daniel Arenas, Alfred Vernis suggests that, Futur Barcelona 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Futur Barcelona is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version | 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version are -
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. Futur Barcelona can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Futur Barcelona 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. Futur Barcelona 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 Futur Barcelona in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Futur Barcelona is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Futur Barcelona can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Futur Barcelona 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Futur Barcelona to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Futur Barcelona can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Futur Barcelona in the consumer business. Now Futur Barcelona can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Futur Barcelona has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Futur Barcelona to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version case study. Futur Barcelona can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Futur Barcelona 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Futur Barcelona can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Futur Barcelona operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Futur Barcelona 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Futur Barcelona 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, FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Futur Barcelona has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Futur Barcelona needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Futur Barcelona with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Futur Barcelona.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Futur Barcelona 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version .
Regulatory challenges
– Futur Barcelona 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Futur Barcelona 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Futur Barcelona in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Futur Barcelona can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Futur Barcelona
– 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 Futur Barcelona.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Futur Barcelona 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.
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 Futur Barcelona business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 FUTUR-Working towards Social Inclusion, Spanish Version 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 Futur Barcelona needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.