PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia
In 1997 three students joined a protest against the electoral victory of Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian Socialist Party. Upon the protest's ultimate defeat, and Milosevic's return to power, the students vowed to continue the struggle for civic activism in Serbia. Their efforts manifested in the creation of the Centre for Civil Society Development PROTECTA, an NGO committed to promoting civic engagement throughout Serbia. Twelve years following the protests PROTECTA has a budget of half-a-million Euro, twenty full-time employees, and working relationships with major public and private international donors. The story is more impressive considering that this organizational growth took place during extreme political, economic, and social upheaval. This case offers students an opportunity to recount the rise of the organization under increasingly trying personal, political and professional circumstances, namely war and a repressive state. These circumstances call into question some potential ethical concerns regarding management in a hostile political environment. It also offers an opportunity for students to make a decision and plot strategy for the organization's future in areas such as leadership transition, core competencies, financial sustainability, and staffing. HKS Case Number 1924.0
Authors :: Christine W. Letts, Ian Cornell
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Financial management, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia" written by Christine W. Letts, Ian Cornell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Protecta Serbia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Protecta Serbia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Protecta Serbia
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 Protecta Serbia
Strengths PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Protecta Serbia in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Protecta Serbia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Protecta Serbia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Protecta Serbia 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.
Learning organization
- Protecta Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Protecta Serbia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Protecta Serbia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Protecta Serbia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Protecta Serbia has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Protecta Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Protecta Serbia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Protecta Serbia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Protecta Serbia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Protecta Serbia 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Protecta Serbia 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 - PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Protecta Serbia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Protecta Serbia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Protecta Serbia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Protecta Serbia products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Protecta Serbia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia HBR case study mentions - Protecta Serbia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Protecta Serbia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Protecta Serbia 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Protecta Serbia 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. Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia | 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia are -
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. Protecta Serbia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Protecta Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Protecta Serbia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Protecta Serbia 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Protecta Serbia 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.
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 Protecta Serbia in the consumer business. Now Protecta Serbia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Protecta Serbia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Protecta Serbia 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Protecta Serbia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Protecta Serbia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Protecta Serbia 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, Protecta Serbia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Protecta Serbia 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, PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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. Protecta Serbia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Protecta Serbia
– 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 Protecta Serbia.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Protecta Serbia 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.
Environmental challenges
– Protecta Serbia 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. Protecta Serbia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Protecta Serbia.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Protecta Serbia 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Protecta Serbia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia, Protecta Serbia 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
– Protecta Serbia 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Protecta Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Protecta Serbia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Protecta Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 PROTECTA - Promoting Civil Society in Serbia 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 Protecta Serbia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
