Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization
In 2000, Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization, launched itself on a bold new course. A small but respected agency, it had devoted itself for three decades to supporting "partner" organizations in developing countries throughout the world, funding a variety of grassroots activities. Now, under the leadership of its president, Raymond Offenheiser, Oxfam America had joined with eleven other Oxfams worldwide to become a "global campaigning force" that would focus on challenging the policies and practices of governments and corporations that harmed the poor. The new initiative was in keeping with Offenheiser's belief that it was time for the international development community to move beyond the "welfare" model of service delivery and embrace an approach that took aim at structural impediments that kept impoverished people from improving their lot. But the commitment to becoming a global campaigning organization would pose new challenges for Offenheiser and his senior managers. Within Oxfam America, the campaign work put new pressures on the organization's staff and resources. Some staff members, particularly those who worked with partner organizations in the field, found the campaign work onerous and, in some cases, irrelevant, and worried that Oxfam America's grassroots work in its regional offices was losing its primacy in the agency. HKS Case Number 1738.0
Authors :: Esther Scott, David Brown
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Economic development, Human resource management, International business, Leadership, Social responsibility, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization" written by Esther Scott, David Brown includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Oxfam Campaigning facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, Human resource management, International business, Leadership, Social responsibility, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oxfam Campaigning, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oxfam Campaigning 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oxfam Campaigning
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 Oxfam Campaigning
Strengths Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oxfam Campaigning in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Oxfam Campaigning is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Oxfam Campaigning is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Oxfam Campaigning
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Oxfam Campaigning does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oxfam Campaigning is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Oxfam Campaigning has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Oxfam Campaigning 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Oxfam Campaigning 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 Oxfam Campaigning is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Oxfam Campaigning digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Oxfam Campaigning 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.
High brand equity
– Oxfam Campaigning has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Oxfam Campaigning to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Oxfam Campaigning 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
– Oxfam Campaigning has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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.
Weaknesses Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam Campaigning 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Oxfam Campaigning 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Oxfam Campaigning is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Oxfam Campaigning 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 - Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization, in the dynamic environment Oxfam Campaigning has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Oxfam Campaigning has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Oxfam Campaigning has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Oxfam Campaigning has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam Campaigning has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization, it seems that the employees of Oxfam Campaigning 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization, 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.
Opportunities Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization | 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization are -
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. Oxfam Campaigning can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Oxfam Campaigning 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.
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. Oxfam Campaigning 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. Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Oxfam Campaigning to increase its market reach. Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Oxfam Campaigning 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 Oxfam Campaigning to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Oxfam Campaigning can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Oxfam Campaigning has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Oxfam Campaigning to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization case study. Oxfam Campaigning can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Oxfam Campaigning 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, Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Oxfam Campaigning can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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.
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 Oxfam Campaigning 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Environmental challenges
– Oxfam Campaigning 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. Oxfam Campaigning can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Oxfam Campaigning with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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. Oxfam Campaigning needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Oxfam Campaigning in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Oxfam Campaigning needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Oxfam Campaigning has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Oxfam Campaigning 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.
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 Oxfam Campaigning.
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 Oxfam Campaigning business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Oxfam Campaigning 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam America: Becoming a Global Campaigning Organization 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 Oxfam Campaigning needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.