Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion

In 2009, ParticipACTION was a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization that had a storied history of inspiring and supporting active and healthy living for Canadians. Led by CEO Kelly Murumets, ParticipACTION was to lead a steering committee of representatives of the not-for-profit sector and the private sector, as well as academics, towards developing a set of 'how-to' guidelines for not-for-profit sport and physical activity organizations on forming effective partnerships with the private sector. Due to decreasing government support, the need to secure alternate resources and funding, and the proliferation of competition, sports and health organizations were extremely interested in such partnerships. Recent successes made ParticipACTION realize that it and other sports advocate organizations around the globe, needed to become more strategic and innovative in engaging private companies. Coming off of a successful internal restructuring and partnership with Coca Cola, ParticipACTION received an opportunity to be involved with the upcoming 3rd International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health Conference (ICPAPH ). ICPAPH would attract over 1000 leaders from dozens of countries and would be an ideal forum for sharing guidelines for responsible partnerships. This case surveys sports and healthy living advocacy and explores how ParticipACTION went about leading the process to develop guidelines for private sector partnerships.

Authors :: Norm O'Reilly, George Foster

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: Health, International business, Joint ventures, Marketing, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion" written by Norm O'Reilly, George Foster includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Participaction Partnerships facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, International business, Joint ventures, Marketing, Social enterprise and Organizational Development.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Participaction Partnerships, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Participaction Partnerships 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Participaction Partnerships
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 Participaction Partnerships

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Strengths Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Participaction Partnerships in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Participaction Partnerships is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High brand equity

– Participaction Partnerships has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Participaction Partnerships to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Participaction Partnerships 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Participaction Partnerships is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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.

Organizational Resilience of Participaction Partnerships

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Participaction Partnerships does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Training and development

– Participaction Partnerships has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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.

Analytics focus

– Participaction Partnerships 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 Norm O'Reilly, George Foster 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry

– Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Participaction Partnerships to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Participaction Partnerships to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Participaction Partnerships 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 Participaction Partnerships is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Participaction Partnerships 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.

Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field

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

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Weaknesses Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Participaction Partnerships, firm in the HBR case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Participaction Partnerships products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Participaction Partnerships needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Participaction Partnerships 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Participaction Partnerships 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. Participaction Partnerships 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion, is just above the industry average. Participaction Partnerships 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Participaction Partnerships 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Participaction Partnerships 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 - Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion, 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion, it seems that the employees of Participaction Partnerships 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Norm O'Reilly, George Foster suggests that, Participaction Partnerships 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.

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Opportunities Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion | 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Participaction Partnerships 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Participaction Partnerships to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Participaction Partnerships can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Participaction Partnerships has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Participaction Partnerships to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion case study. Participaction Partnerships can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Participaction Partnerships 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Participaction Partnerships 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Participaction Partnerships can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Participaction Partnerships 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.

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 Participaction Partnerships 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Participaction Partnerships 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Participaction Partnerships can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Participaction Partnerships 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. Participaction Partnerships can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Participaction Partnerships 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Participaction Partnerships 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, Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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Threats Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion are -

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.

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

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 Participaction Partnerships.

Regulatory challenges

– Participaction Partnerships 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.

Environmental challenges

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

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. Participaction Partnerships 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Participaction Partnerships 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Participaction Partnerships 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.

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

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.

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 Participaction Partnerships in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

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

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion, Participaction Partnerships 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 .

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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 Not for Profit / Private Sector Partnerships in Sport and Physical Activity: ParticipACTION as Champion 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 Participaction Partnerships needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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