Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities
Inner City Renovation (ICR) was a social enterprise established to address decaying infrastructure of inner city Winnipeg neighborhoods while providing opportunities for their residents - who would otherwise likely have been unemployed and on social assistance - to learn a trade and earn a living. ICR created 30 full-time permanent jobs and completed more than 100 construction projects in the Winnipeg area. However, its financial viability was an issue. It had lost money on operations every year and was close to the limit on its line of credit. While its most important customer had just ceased operations, which threatened the very existence of ICR, its founder was determined to keep it going. John Melnyk is affiliated with University of Winnipeg.
Swot Analysis of "Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities" written by Marty Donkervoort, John Melnyk includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Icr Winnipeg facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Social enterprise and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Icr Winnipeg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Icr Winnipeg 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Icr Winnipeg
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Icr Winnipeg
Strengths Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Icr Winnipeg in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Icr Winnipeg 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 Strategy & Execution field
– Icr Winnipeg 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 Icr Winnipeg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Icr Winnipeg 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Icr Winnipeg in the sector have low bargaining power. Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Icr Winnipeg to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Icr Winnipeg 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 Icr Winnipeg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Icr Winnipeg is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Icr Winnipeg has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Icr Winnipeg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Icr Winnipeg has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Icr Winnipeg has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Icr Winnipeg 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.
High brand equity
– Icr Winnipeg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Icr Winnipeg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities HBR case study mentions - Icr Winnipeg takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Icr Winnipeg 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Icr Winnipeg 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 - Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Icr Winnipeg 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Icr Winnipeg is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities, in the dynamic environment Icr Winnipeg has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Icr Winnipeg has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Icr Winnipeg has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Icr Winnipeg 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. Icr Winnipeg 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Icr Winnipeg 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Icr Winnipeg is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Icr Winnipeg needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Icr Winnipeg to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Icr Winnipeg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Icr Winnipeg needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities | 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Icr Winnipeg can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Icr Winnipeg has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Icr Winnipeg to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities case study. Icr Winnipeg 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 Icr Winnipeg can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Icr Winnipeg 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. Icr Winnipeg 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.
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 Icr Winnipeg 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Icr Winnipeg can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Icr Winnipeg in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Icr Winnipeg 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Icr Winnipeg 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Icr Winnipeg 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.
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. Icr Winnipeg can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Icr Winnipeg to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Icr Winnipeg 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, Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Icr Winnipeg 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Icr Winnipeg 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 Icr Winnipeg with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Icr Winnipeg business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Icr Winnipeg in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Icr Winnipeg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Icr Winnipeg 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Icr Winnipeg 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Icr Winnipeg 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.
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 Icr Winnipeg in the Strategy & Execution 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities, Icr Winnipeg may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Regulatory challenges
– Icr Winnipeg 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Icr Winnipeg 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. Icr Winnipeg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Inner City Renovation: Rebuilding Properties, Lives and Communities 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 Icr Winnipeg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
