An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl
Supplement case for UV5830.The principal's B case describes Landahl's first year at Greer-he seemed to be running from one trouble spot to another, and several problems just kept resurfacing. Student offenses against teachers and each other had decreased, but disorderly and disruptive incidents had increased. Teachers who disagreed with Landahl's approach undermined his leadership. Greer students had failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks for 2007-08; the likelihood of achieving some of his goals and strategy objectives now seemed remote. Yet he was determined that the upcoming school year was going to better and that he would turn the situation around. He had secured some funds from the superintendent to take his staff on a retreat on Monday-three days after he learned about the AYP scores. How was He going to tell the teaching team about the scores and work out a roadmap for the following year? What would it look like? He also had something else to think about. The superintendent wanted Landahl to choose from the state-mandated options. He could decide to continue offering supplemental educational services or present parents with the choice of sending their children to another school. What should he do? This case has been taught in an executive education school turnaround program for district administrators and principals. It could also be used in a first-year MBA leadership and organizational behavior course as an introduction on creating value through people-management and design.
Swot Analysis of "An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl" written by Gerry Yemen, Ryan W. Quinn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ayp Greer facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Leadership and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ayp Greer, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ayp Greer 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ayp Greer
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 Ayp Greer
Strengths An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ayp Greer in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ayp Greer 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ayp Greer to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ayp Greer to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Ayp Greer has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ayp Greer to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Ayp Greer is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 Organizational Development field
– Ayp Greer 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 Ayp Greer in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Ayp Greer has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ayp Greer 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Ayp Greer
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ayp Greer does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ayp Greer in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ayp Greer 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Ayp Greer 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 Gerry Yemen, Ryan W. Quinn 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ayp Greer 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.
Weaknesses An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ayp Greer 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl HBR case study mentions - Ayp Greer 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 Ayp Greer 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ayp Greer is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gerry Yemen, Ryan W. Quinn suggests that, Ayp Greer 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ayp Greer, firm in the HBR case study An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ayp Greer products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ayp Greer needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Ayp Greer has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Ayp Greer supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ayp Greer vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ayp Greer 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ayp Greer has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Ayp Greer even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl | 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl are -
Loyalty marketing
– Ayp Greer 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ayp Greer 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ayp Greer can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ayp Greer 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 Ayp Greer to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ayp Greer 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ayp Greer 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ayp Greer 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, An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Ayp Greer can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Ayp Greer in the consumer business. Now Ayp Greer can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Ayp Greer 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 Ayp Greer 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ayp Greer to increase its market reach. Ayp Greer will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
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. Ayp Greer can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ayp Greer needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ayp Greer 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ayp Greer 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl, Ayp Greer 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ayp Greer demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ayp Greer 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ayp Greer 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl .
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 Ayp Greer business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ayp Greer is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Ayp Greer 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
– Ayp Greer 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. Ayp Greer can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 An Entrepreneur in the Educational World (B):Principal Matthew Landahl 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 Ayp Greer needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.