Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community
In early 2010, Martin Grable, President of the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas (CBCC), was ready to move the first community blood center in North Carolina to a new level. In a strategic planning retreat, he asked the Board of Directors to evaluate seven strategic options and provide its expertise to assist in determining the future direction of the center: Increase provision of specialized blood services by 1. Pooling donors for sickle cell patients, 2. Offering cord blood storage, 3. Developing a therapeutic apheresis/transfusion service or 4. Become a Center that provides a reference lab for other blood centers in the region; 5. Improve blood inventory management software utilization for the region's current hospitals so that CBCC became their sole provider of blood; 6. Expand geographically serving more hospitals and patients; or 7. Re-double efforts to increase donations through additional collection sites, improved marketing, more attention to current donors, and so on. Although all of the alternatives were needed by the community, CBCC did not have unlimited resources. Further, health care reform loomed on the horizon. Clearly, to serve the community, CBCC needed to not only survive, but also thrive in the near term. Which of the alternatives would allow achievement of that goal for the newest FDA-licensed community blood center?
Swot Analysis of "Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community" written by Linda Swayne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Blood Cbcc facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Marketing, Strategic planning, Strategic thinking and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Blood Cbcc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Blood Cbcc 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Blood Cbcc
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 Blood Cbcc
Strengths Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Blood Cbcc in Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Blood Cbcc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Blood Cbcc 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Blood Cbcc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Blood Cbcc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Blood Cbcc 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
– Blood Cbcc 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 Blood Cbcc 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 Blood Cbcc in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Blood Cbcc in the sector have low bargaining power. Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Blood Cbcc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Blood Cbcc is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Blood Cbcc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Blood Cbcc 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Blood Cbcc is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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.
High brand equity
– Blood Cbcc has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Blood Cbcc to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Blood Cbcc 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 Linda Swayne 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.
Weaknesses Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Blood Cbcc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Blood Cbcc 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 Blood Cbcc, firm in the HBR case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Linda Swayne suggests that, Blood Cbcc 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community HBR case study mentions - Blood Cbcc 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community, is just above the industry average. Blood Cbcc needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Blood Cbcc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Blood Cbcc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Blood Cbcc to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Blood Cbcc 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Blood Cbcc 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Blood Cbcc is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Blood Cbcc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community | 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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. Blood Cbcc 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. Blood Cbcc 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Blood Cbcc 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, Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Blood Cbcc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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.
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 Blood Cbcc 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Blood Cbcc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Blood Cbcc 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Blood Cbcc 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Blood Cbcc 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Blood Cbcc 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Blood Cbcc 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.
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. Blood Cbcc can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Blood Cbcc to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Blood Cbcc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Blood Cbcc 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.
Threats Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community are -
Environmental challenges
– Blood Cbcc 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. Blood Cbcc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Blood Cbcc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Blood Cbcc 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Blood Cbcc 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.
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 Blood Cbcc.
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 Blood Cbcc in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Blood Cbcc 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. Blood Cbcc 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.
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 Blood Cbcc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Blood Cbcc is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Blood Cbcc
– 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 Blood Cbcc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Blood Cbcc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Blood Cbcc 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: Building for a Better Community 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 Blood Cbcc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.