This case presents the leadership challenges that Cheryl Dorsey, the president of Echoing Green, faces in early 2009. Echoing Green is a fellowship program that seeks to improve society by identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs who launch organizations to attack some of the world's most difficult problems. After turning Echoing Green around and re-building an organization almost from scratch over the last 7 years, Dorsey feels that Echoing Green is at a crossroads as it is facing much more competition. Adding to Dorsey's challenges, in late 2008 the economy is in crisis and many Echoing Green supporters are reducing or delaying their donations. In this situation, Dorsey has to decide whether, and if so, how to change Echoing Green's strategy as well as whether she is the right person to continue to lead the organization.
Authors :: Julie Battilana, Thomas J. DeLong, James Weber
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Crisis management, Government, Informal leadership, Leadership, Leading teams, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Echoing Green" written by Julie Battilana, Thomas J. DeLong, James Weber includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Echoing Dorsey facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Echoing Green case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Government, Informal leadership, Leadership, Leading teams, Social enterprise and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Echoing Green casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Echoing Green case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Echoing Dorsey, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Echoing Dorsey 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 Echoing Green can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Echoing Green case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Echoing Dorsey
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 Echoing Dorsey
Strengths Echoing Green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Echoing Dorsey in Echoing Green Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Echoing Dorsey has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Echoing Dorsey to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Echoing Dorsey 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 Echoing Green HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Echoing Dorsey in the sector have low bargaining power. Echoing Green has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Echoing Dorsey to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Echoing Green 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.
Organizational Resilience of Echoing Dorsey
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Echoing Dorsey does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Echoing Dorsey is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Echoing Green are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Echoing Dorsey digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Echoing Dorsey 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Echoing Dorsey in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Echoing Dorsey 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.
Training and development
– Echoing Dorsey has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Echoing Green 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Echoing Dorsey is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Echoing Green 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Echoing Dorsey 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 Echoing Dorsey in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Echoing Green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Echoing Green are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Echoing Dorsey 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. Echoing Dorsey 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Echoing Green, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Echoing Dorsey needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Echoing Dorsey, firm in the HBR case study Echoing Green needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Echoing Dorsey supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Echoing Green, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Echoing Dorsey vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Echoing Dorsey 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 - Echoing Green should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Echoing Green 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 Echoing Green can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Echoing Dorsey is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Echoing Dorsey products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Echoing Dorsey needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Echoing Dorsey 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Echoing Green, it seems that the employees of Echoing Dorsey 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Echoing Dorsey is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Echoing Green can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Echoing Green | 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 Echoing Green are -
Buying journey improvements
– Echoing Dorsey can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Echoing Green 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Echoing Dorsey can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Echoing Dorsey can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Echoing Dorsey 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Echoing Dorsey 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 Echoing Green - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Echoing Dorsey to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Echoing Dorsey 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, Echoing Green, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Echoing Dorsey can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Echoing Dorsey 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Echoing Dorsey 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Echoing Dorsey has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Echoing Dorsey to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Echoing Green case study. Echoing Dorsey can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Echoing Dorsey to increase its market reach. Echoing Dorsey 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.
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. Echoing Dorsey can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Echoing Dorsey can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Echoing Dorsey operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Echoing Dorsey 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.
Threats Echoing Green External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Echoing Green are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Echoing Dorsey with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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
– Echoing Dorsey 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.
Increasing wage structure of Echoing Dorsey
– 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 Echoing Dorsey.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Echoing Dorsey 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.
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 Echoing Dorsey in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Echoing Green, Echoing Dorsey 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 .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Echoing Dorsey 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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Echoing Dorsey needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Echoing Dorsey 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, Echoing Dorsey 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 Echoing Green .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Echoing Dorsey is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Echoing Green 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 Echoing Green 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 Echoing Green 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 Echoing Green 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 Echoing Green 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 Echoing Dorsey needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.