Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario
Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, set out to transform the community of Chapleau through the deployment of technology and business solutions. Together they deploy a wireless broadband network in town, providing mobile internet access to the 2800 residents and town visitors. They also worked with the town's five schools, hospital and local businesses to identify and deploy business solutions. The hospital is given an indoor wireless network, an upgraded telephone system and additional computers. The schools are given laptops, wireless access, multimedia equipment, and teacher training. The community itself, in addition to the free wireless broadband service, is provided with a community portal, computer training and free access to a myriad of technologies. The local community centre is set up with multimedia equipment. University researchers are brought in to study the impact of the technology on the community, small businesses, health and education. A diabetes healthcare trial is launched. Employment is provided to 5 local residents. Over the course of two years, millions of dollars are spent and much is learned, by not only Bell and Nortel but also the community itself, government (federal, provincial, municipal) and others. Bell and Nortel create lasting relationships with community members. A degree of interdependence is established. Almost two years later, the project is nearing its end. The Chapleau Town Council voices their concern about what will remain in the community. They request sustainability solutions for the investments made by the project team. The steering committee must determine the needs and saliency of the project stakeholders and propose a sustainable solution.
Swot Analysis of "Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario" written by Gwyneth Edwards includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chapleau Nortel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, IT, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chapleau Nortel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chapleau Nortel 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chapleau Nortel
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 Chapleau Nortel
Strengths Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chapleau Nortel in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Chapleau Nortel 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 Gwyneth Edwards 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Chapleau Nortel 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 Chapleau Nortel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Chapleau Nortel 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Chapleau Nortel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chapleau Nortel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chapleau Nortel 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
– Chapleau Nortel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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.
Organizational Resilience of Chapleau Nortel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Chapleau Nortel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Chapleau Nortel 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Chapleau Nortel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Chapleau Nortel 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Chapleau Nortel in the sector have low bargaining power. Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Chapleau Nortel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Chapleau Nortel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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.
Weaknesses Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Chapleau Nortel 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, in the dynamic environment Chapleau Nortel has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chapleau Nortel has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Chapleau Nortel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Chapleau Nortel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Chapleau Nortel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chapleau Nortel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Chapleau Nortel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chapleau Nortel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Chapleau Nortel has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chapleau Nortel 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 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 Chapleau Nortel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Chapleau Nortel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gwyneth Edwards suggests that, Chapleau Nortel 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Chapleau Nortel 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 - Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, 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.
Opportunities Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario | 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario are -
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. Chapleau Nortel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Chapleau Nortel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chapleau Nortel to increase its market reach. Chapleau Nortel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Chapleau Nortel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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, Chapleau Nortel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chapleau Nortel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chapleau Nortel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Chapleau Nortel 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Chapleau Nortel 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, Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chapleau Nortel 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 Chapleau Nortel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Chapleau Nortel 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chapleau Nortel 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 Chapleau Nortel 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Chapleau Nortel 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.
Threats Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario are -
Regulatory challenges
– Chapleau Nortel 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario, Chapleau Nortel 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 .
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 Chapleau Nortel.
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 Chapleau Nortel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Chapleau Nortel 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Chapleau Nortel 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.
Increasing wage structure of Chapleau Nortel
– 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 Chapleau Nortel.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Chapleau Nortel is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Chapleau Nortel 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Chapleau Nortel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chapleau Nortel 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.
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 Chapleau Nortel in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chapleau Nortel 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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 Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell, Nortel and Chapleau, Ontario 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 Chapleau Nortel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.