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Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution


The Friends of Western Buddhist Order, an organization dedicated to spreading the teachings of Buddha in modern context, started a giftware company called Windhorse, with a two-part vision of making work a context for spiritual growth and raising money for charity. After operating for more than 20 years, Windhorse experienced challenges in keeping up with its rapid business growth. To bridge this gap, the company recruited non-Buddhists to the organization; however, many of the Buddhist members felt that the purpose and meaning that had bonded the members to the organization was fading. As a result, an increasing number of Buddhists started leaving the organization, while many new members were unwilling to work for the low remuneration. Was it viable for such a value-based organization to continue to pursue financial prosperity? Himanshu Dhaka is affiliated with Management Development Institute. Management Development Institute ALTERNATE EMAIL: rajenkgupta@gmail.com. Tanuja Sharma is affiliated with C-Block, Management Development Institute.

Authors :: Himanshu Dhaka, Rajen Gupta, Tanuja Sharma

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: Organizational culture, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution" written by Himanshu Dhaka, Rajen Gupta, Tanuja Sharma includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Buddhist Windhorse facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Buddhist Windhorse, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Buddhist Windhorse 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Buddhist Windhorse
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 Buddhist Windhorse




Strengths Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Buddhist Windhorse in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Buddhist Windhorse is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Buddhist Windhorse is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry

– Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Buddhist Windhorse to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Buddhist Windhorse to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Diverse revenue streams

– Buddhist Windhorse is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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.

Training and development

– Buddhist Windhorse has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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.

Learning organization

- Buddhist Windhorse 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 Buddhist Windhorse is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Buddhist Windhorse in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field

– Buddhist Windhorse 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 Buddhist Windhorse in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Buddhist Windhorse digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Buddhist Windhorse 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.






Weaknesses Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution, is just above the industry average. Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Buddhist Windhorse is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Buddhist Windhorse needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Buddhist Windhorse to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution, 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Buddhist Windhorse 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Buddhist Windhorse 's lucrative customers.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution, in the dynamic environment Buddhist Windhorse has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Buddhist Windhorse has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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 Buddhist Windhorse supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Buddhist Windhorse vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Buddhist Windhorse 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Buddhist Windhorse has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Buddhist Windhorse has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.




Opportunities Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution | 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution are -

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Buddhist Windhorse 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 Buddhist Windhorse to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Buddhist Windhorse is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Buddhist Windhorse 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.

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. Buddhist Windhorse 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. Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Buddhist Windhorse has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Buddhist Windhorse to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution case study. Buddhist Windhorse can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Buddhist Windhorse can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Buddhist Windhorse can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Buddhist Windhorse operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.

Developing new processes and practices

– Buddhist Windhorse 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.

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. Buddhist Windhorse can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.




Threats Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution are -

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 Buddhist Windhorse.

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. Buddhist Windhorse needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Buddhist Windhorse 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.

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. Buddhist Windhorse 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

– Buddhist Windhorse 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 Buddhist Windhorse with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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. Buddhist Windhorse can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution, Buddhist Windhorse 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 .

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 Buddhist Windhorse business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Buddhist Windhorse is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Buddhist Windhorse has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Buddhist Windhorse 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.

Environmental challenges

– Buddhist Windhorse 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. Buddhist Windhorse can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Friends of Western Buddhist Order - Windhorse: Evolution 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 Buddhist Windhorse needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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