Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank
Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank details the development of the bank's new Office of Outreach Partnerships to sustain a culture of innovation through maintaining and generating partnerships in order to fulfill the bank's greater mission of providing multilateral development financing as well as non-financial technical support and expertise for the Latin American and Caribbean region. At the time the case takes place, the Latin American and Caribbean region had seen changes such as expansion of the middle class, emergence of a new business class, and integration with foreign trade. Additionally, the region had faced challenges such as poverty, education, productivity, and infrastructure in both small and medium enterprises. Finally, new actors had entered the region such as governments, corporations, foundations, academic institutions, and NGO's to take a supporting role. In response, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had created the Office of Outreach and Partnerships (ORP) as a dedicated team to lead strategic collaboration and interactions with a long-term vision for partnerships and innovation. The case portrays key questions concerning how the partnership process was formalized through the development of ORP, and what innovations these new partnerships would bring to the bank. Three example partnerships are detailed including The Coca-Cola Company, The Salud Mesoamerica 2015 Initiative, and PepsiCo. The case concludes by positing questions the ORP would face moving forward such as incentives, metrics, restructuring to serve the private sector, and mechanisms for working with a new set of partners.
Authors :: Amy C. Edmondson, Erin Henry, Andreas Georgoulias, Natalie Bartlett
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Economy, Government, Growth strategy, Health, International business, Joint ventures, Leading teams, Organizational culture, Organizational structure, Public relations, Reorganization, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank" written by Amy C. Edmondson, Erin Henry, Andreas Georgoulias, Natalie Bartlett includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Partnerships Orp facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Government, Growth strategy, Health, International business, Joint ventures, Leading teams, Organizational culture, Organizational structure, Public relations, Reorganization, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, 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, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Partnerships Orp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Partnerships Orp 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Partnerships Orp
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 Partnerships Orp
Strengths Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Partnerships Orp in Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Partnerships Orp 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Partnerships Orp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Partnerships Orp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Partnerships Orp is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Partnerships Orp 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Partnerships Orp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Partnerships Orp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Partnerships Orp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Partnerships Orp in the sector have low bargaining power. Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Partnerships Orp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Partnerships Orp is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Partnerships Orp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Partnerships Orp 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.
High brand equity
– Partnerships Orp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Partnerships Orp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Partnerships Orp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Partnerships Orp 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.
Analytics focus
– Partnerships Orp 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 Amy C. Edmondson, Erin Henry, Andreas Georgoulias, Natalie Bartlett 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.
Weaknesses Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Partnerships Orp is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Partnerships Orp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Partnerships Orp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Partnerships Orp 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank HBR case study mentions - Partnerships Orp 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Partnerships Orp, firm in the HBR case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, in the dynamic environment Partnerships Orp has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Partnerships Orp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Partnerships Orp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Partnerships Orp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Partnerships Orp to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, it seems that the employees of Partnerships Orp 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Partnerships Orp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Amy C. Edmondson, Erin Henry, Andreas Georgoulias, Natalie Bartlett suggests that, Partnerships Orp 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank | 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Partnerships Orp 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 Partnerships Orp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Partnerships Orp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Partnerships Orp 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Partnerships Orp 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.
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. Partnerships Orp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Partnerships Orp 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Partnerships Orp 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Partnerships Orp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Partnerships Orp 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, Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Partnerships Orp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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 Partnerships Orp in the consumer business. Now Partnerships Orp 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 Partnerships Orp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Partnerships Orp to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank case study. Partnerships Orp can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Partnerships Orp 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.
Threats Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank are -
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. Partnerships Orp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Partnerships Orp 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.
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. Partnerships Orp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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. Partnerships Orp 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
– Partnerships Orp 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.
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 Partnerships Orp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Partnerships Orp 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank .
Increasing wage structure of Partnerships Orp
– 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 Partnerships Orp.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Partnerships Orp 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 Partnerships Orp in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, Partnerships Orp 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Partnerships Orp 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. Partnerships Orp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank 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 Partnerships Orp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.