Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A)
Southwest Creations Collaborative (SCC) was a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to promoting the employability and financial independence of poor immigrant women in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It sought to accomplish its mission by providing part-time and later full-time sewing and handwork jobs in a contract manufacturing business. SCC also provided many social program activities for employees, including onsite childcare, English lessons, health education, and computer classes. The organization's financial support came from a combination of contract work and grant funding. The two cases stretch through the life of SCC, from its inception in 1994 through the middle of 2008. Case (A) covers the initial formation of the organization in 1994, from the perspective of the founder and executive director, and leads to a decision point regarding a possible relationship with a social venture consulting group in 2005. Case (B) begins where Case (A) ends and concludes with decisions in 2008 about whether or not to expand the business in order to become more economically self-sufficient and less reliant on grants and donations, and whether to increase its impact by marketing its approach to employee social programs to local companies and other organizations.
Authors :: Jeanne M. Logsdon, Jonathan N. Bundy
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Gender, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Venture capital, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A)" written by Jeanne M. Logsdon, Jonathan N. Bundy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Scc Creations facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Venture capital and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Scc Creations, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Scc Creations
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 Scc Creations
Strengths Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Scc Creations in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Scc Creations is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Scc Creations
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Scc Creations does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Scc Creations 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 Jeanne M. Logsdon, Jonathan N. Bundy can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Training and development
– Scc Creations has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Scc Creations digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Scc Creations 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Scc Creations has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Scc Creations 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Scc Creations is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Scc Creations 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 Scc Creations 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 Scc Creations 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.
Learning organization
- Scc Creations 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 Scc Creations is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Scc Creations is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Scc Creations needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A), it seems that the employees of Scc Creations 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A), is just above the industry average. Scc Creations 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Scc Creations 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 - Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Scc Creations, firm in the HBR case study Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Scc Creations 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Scc Creations 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Scc Creations products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Scc Creations needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A), in the dynamic environment Scc Creations has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Scc Creations has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Scc Creations has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Scc Creations has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) | 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Scc Creations 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Scc Creations 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Scc Creations 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.
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. Scc Creations can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Scc Creations 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Scc Creations 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Scc Creations 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Scc Creations has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Scc Creations to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) case study. Scc Creations can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Scc Creations to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Scc Creations 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
– Scc Creations 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Scc Creations is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Scc Creations 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 Scc Creations to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) are -
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.
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. Scc Creations needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Scc Creations 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Scc Creations is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Scc Creations 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.
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 Scc Creations.
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 Scc Creations business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A), Scc Creations 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Scc Creations 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.
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. Scc Creations 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.
Environmental challenges
– Scc Creations 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. Scc Creations can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Increasing wage structure of Scc Creations
– 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 Scc Creations.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Good Business Creates Good Business: Southwest Creations Collaborative (A) 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 Scc Creations needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
