Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon
The case focuses on the turnaround situation facing the newly elected chief executive officer (CEO) of the Vancouver YMCA. The YMCA has suffered a long series of operating deficits ($9 million per year), has mounting debts to third parties, declining membership, and a maxed out $1 million operation line of credit. There are issues with its assets (old facilities with little renovations done over the past three decades), political infighting and union issues. The CEO has to work to turn the situation around before the organization goes bankrupt.
Swot Analysis of "Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon" written by Gerard Seijts, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ymca Vancouver facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Motivating people and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ymca Vancouver, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ymca Vancouver
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 Ymca Vancouver
Strengths Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ymca Vancouver in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ymca Vancouver to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ymca Vancouver to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Ymca Vancouver has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ymca Vancouver to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ymca Vancouver 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ymca Vancouver is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ymca Vancouver in the sector have low bargaining power. Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ymca Vancouver to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Ymca Vancouver has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ymca Vancouver is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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.
Analytics focus
– Ymca Vancouver 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 Gerard Seijts, Ken Mark 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ymca Vancouver has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ymca Vancouver 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ymca Vancouver 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.
Weaknesses Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ymca Vancouver 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. Ymca Vancouver 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ymca Vancouver 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Ymca Vancouver 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon, it seems that the employees of Ymca Vancouver 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ymca Vancouver, firm in the HBR case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ymca Vancouver is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon, is just above the industry average. Ymca Vancouver 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gerard Seijts, Ken Mark suggests that, Ymca Vancouver 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Ymca Vancouver has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ymca Vancouver is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ymca Vancouver 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 - Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon | 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ymca Vancouver has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ymca Vancouver to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon case study. Ymca Vancouver 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
– Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ymca Vancouver to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ymca Vancouver to increase its market reach. Ymca Vancouver 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ymca Vancouver 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, Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ymca Vancouver can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ymca Vancouver operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Ymca Vancouver can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ymca Vancouver 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ymca Vancouver can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Ymca Vancouver in the consumer business. Now Ymca Vancouver can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ymca Vancouver 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ymca Vancouver can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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.
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. Ymca Vancouver 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 Ymca Vancouver 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.
Threats Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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. Ymca Vancouver can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon, Ymca Vancouver 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Ymca Vancouver
– 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 Ymca Vancouver.
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. Ymca Vancouver 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ymca Vancouver 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ymca Vancouver 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon .
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 Ymca Vancouver.
Environmental challenges
– Ymca Vancouver 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. Ymca Vancouver can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ymca Vancouver 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ymca Vancouver 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.
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 Ymca Vancouver business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Vancouver YMCA: The Turnaround of a Public Icon 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 Ymca Vancouver needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
