The company, workopolisCampus.com, was an online job site for students and new graduates of Canadian colleges and universities. The website was established by several Toronto universities in the late 1990s and was acquired soon after by Workopolis to complement the company's primary job site, workopoliscom. After several years of steady but slow growth, workopolisCampus.com's future prospects appeared limited in 2007. The provides an opportunity to explore options for organizational change.
Swot Analysis of "workopolisCampus.com" written by Michael Rouse, Natalie Takach includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Workopoliscampus.com Universities facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in workopolisCampus.com case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational structure and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the workopolisCampus.com casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of workopolisCampus.com
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in workopolisCampus.com case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Workopoliscampus.com Universities, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 workopolisCampus.com can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in workopolisCampus.com case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Workopoliscampus.com Universities
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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities
Strengths workopolisCampus.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Workopoliscampus.com Universities in workopolisCampus.com Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Workopoliscampus.com Universities in the sector have low bargaining power. workopolisCampus.com has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Workopoliscampus.com Universities to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 workopolisCampus.com HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 Michael Rouse, Natalie Takach 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Workopoliscampus.com Universities digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Workopoliscampus.com Universities in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 workopolisCampus.com - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in workopolisCampus.com Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in workopolisCampus.com Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the workopolisCampus.com are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses workopolisCampus.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of workopolisCampus.com are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Workopoliscampus.com Universities is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study workopolisCampus.com 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, Workopoliscampus.com Universities needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 - workopolisCampus.com should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study workopolisCampus.com 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study workopolisCampus.com, in the dynamic environment Workopoliscampus.com Universities has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Workopoliscampus.com Universities has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Workopoliscampus.com Universities, firm in the HBR case study workopolisCampus.com needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - workopolisCampus.com, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Workopoliscampus.com Universities vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the workopolisCampus.com HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Workopoliscampus.com Universities has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Rouse, Natalie Takach suggests that, Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 workopolisCampus.com HBR case study mentions - Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Opportunities workopolisCampus.com | 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 workopolisCampus.com 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, Workopoliscampus.com Universities can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Workopoliscampus.com Universities operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Workopoliscampus.com Universities can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Workopoliscampus.com Universities can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
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. Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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. Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Workopoliscampus.com Universities has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Workopoliscampus.com Universities to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the workopolisCampus.com case study. Workopoliscampus.com Universities can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Workopoliscampus.com Universities can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Workopoliscampus.com Universities is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. workopolisCampus.com 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. workopolisCampus.com 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.
Threats workopolisCampus.com External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study workopolisCampus.com are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Workopoliscampus.com Universities is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Workopoliscampus.com Universities can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Workopoliscampus.com Universities
– 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
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.
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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Workopoliscampus.com Universities with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Workopoliscampus.com Universities has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study workopolisCampus.com, Workopoliscampus.com Universities 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of workopolisCampus.com 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 workopolisCampus.com 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 workopolisCampus.com 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 workopolisCampus.com 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 workopolisCampus.com 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 Workopoliscampus.com Universities needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
