Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston

In 2003, Lee Stuart, who had successfully used the Nehemiah Strategy to create thousands of units of affordable housing in the South Bronx, was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement the strategy in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a number of challenges in transferring the strategy, with some questioning whether the strategy was appropriate for the Boston marketplace. The project was at a critical point, and key decisions had to be made regarding project direction. Teaching Purpose: To explore a model of building affordable housing and the challenge of implementing it in different communities.

Authors :: Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel, Sheila McCarthy Leddy

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Economic development, Leadership, Public relations, Social enterprise, Strategy execution, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston" written by Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel, Sheila McCarthy Leddy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nehemiah Boston facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, Leadership, Public relations, Social enterprise, Strategy execution and Strategy & Execution.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston

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

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Strengths Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Nehemiah Boston in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston Harvard Business Review case study are -

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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.

Training and development

– Nehemiah Boston has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Nehemiah Boston has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nehemiah Boston 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nehemiah Boston to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nehemiah Boston to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High brand equity

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

Organizational Resilience of Nehemiah Boston

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

Innovation driven organization

– Nehemiah Boston is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Learning organization

- Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Nehemiah Boston 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Nehemiah Boston is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Nehemiah Boston 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.

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Weaknesses Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel, Sheila McCarthy Leddy suggests that, Nehemiah Boston 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston 's lucrative customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Nehemiah Boston 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston, it seems that the employees of Nehemiah Boston 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nehemiah Boston 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston HBR case study mentions - Nehemiah Boston 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Nehemiah Boston needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nehemiah Boston to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Lack of clear differentiation of Nehemiah Boston products

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Nehemiah Boston, firm in the HBR case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Nehemiah Boston supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nehemiah Boston vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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Opportunities Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston | 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston are -

Increase in government spending

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

Developing new processes and practices

– Nehemiah Boston 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Nehemiah Boston 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Nehemiah Boston can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nehemiah Boston 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.

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 Nehemiah Boston 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nehemiah Boston is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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.

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. Nehemiah Boston 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. Nehemiah Boston 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Nehemiah Boston 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nehemiah Boston in the consumer business. Now Nehemiah Boston can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Loyalty marketing

– Nehemiah Boston 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.

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Threats Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Nehemiah Boston has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nehemiah Boston needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Nehemiah Boston can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Nehemiah Boston needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Environmental challenges

– Nehemiah Boston 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. Nehemiah Boston can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

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 Nehemiah Boston.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Nehemiah Boston 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.

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 Nehemiah Boston in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Nehemiah Boston

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Nehemiah Boston.

Regulatory challenges

– Nehemiah Boston 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nehemiah Boston with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Nehemiah Boston is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston .

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston, Nehemiah Boston 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 .

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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