Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good
Boston-based fast-casual chain, b.good, was founded on the idea of healthy food, sourced locally, and prepared in-store. They'd worked to build a value-based business, and worked hard to cultivate a sense of family--among employees, customers and suppliers. In 2015, they had entered a period of substantial growth, with the company doubling in size over the past 12 months, and plans to double again over the coming twelve months. The management felt this purpose and sense of family had served them well, but were worried that growth would water down these key ingredients to their success. As they enter 2016, they are particularly focused on ensuring that they get the "people" systems right.
Authors :: Francesca Gino, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats
Swot Analysis of "Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good" written by Francesca Gino, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that B.good Sense facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Motivating people, Organizational culture, Supply chain and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the B.good Sense, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which B.good Sense 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of B.good Sense
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 B.good Sense
Strengths Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of B.good Sense in Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of B.good Sense in the sector have low bargaining power. Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps B.good Sense to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– B.good Sense 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– B.good Sense is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– B.good Sense has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– B.good Sense has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. B.good Sense 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For B.good Sense digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. B.good Sense 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the B.good Sense 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.
Analytics focus
– B.good Sense 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 Francesca Gino, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– B.good Sense is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– B.good Sense 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– B.good Sense 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 B.good Sense in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good, is just above the industry average. B.good Sense 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– B.good Sense 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as B.good Sense is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 B.good Sense has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good, in the dynamic environment B.good Sense has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. B.good Sense has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
B.good Sense 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though B.good Sense 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 - Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of B.good Sense is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. B.good Sense needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help B.good Sense to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Francesca Gino, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats suggests that, B.good Sense 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good, it seems that the employees of B.good Sense 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.
Opportunities Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good | 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of B.good Sense has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help B.good Sense to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good case study. B.good Sense can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 B.good Sense 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.
Buying journey improvements
– B.good Sense can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for B.good Sense 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– B.good Sense 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.
Loyalty marketing
– B.good Sense 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for B.good Sense 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.
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. B.good Sense 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
– B.good Sense 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help B.good Sense to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, B.good Sense is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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.
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. B.good Sense can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– B.good Sense 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at B.good Sense 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.
Threats Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good are -
Environmental challenges
– B.good Sense 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. B.good Sense can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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 B.good Sense.
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. B.good Sense 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.
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 B.good Sense in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, B.good Sense 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good .
Regulatory challenges
– B.good Sense 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– B.good Sense has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, B.good Sense needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
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 B.good Sense business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for B.good Sense 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that B.good Sense is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good, B.good Sense 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents B.good Sense with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 Scaling Well by Doing Good: Motivating Talent at b.good 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 B.good Sense needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
