Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
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 - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, etc
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.
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
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 -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Boston in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nehemiah Boston in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Analytics focus
– Nehemiah Boston 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 Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel, Sheila McCarthy Leddy 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 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nehemiah Boston in the sector have low bargaining power. Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nehemiah Boston to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nehemiah Boston is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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 -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nehemiah Boston is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nehemiah Boston 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. Nehemiah Boston 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, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nehemiah Boston has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to 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.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Nehemiah Boston 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nehemiah Boston to increase its market reach. Nehemiah Boston will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nehemiah Boston 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 Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nehemiah Boston to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nehemiah Boston 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Nehemiah Boston can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston 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.
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nehemiah Boston has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nehemiah Boston to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston case study. Nehemiah Boston can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nehemiah Boston 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, Nehemiah Strategy: Bringing It to Boston, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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 -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nehemiah Boston 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.
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. Nehemiah Boston 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.
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.
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.
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. Nehemiah Boston can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
