Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities
It was April 2014 and Reverend Canon Dr. Judy Rois (Rois), CEO and Executive Director of the Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC), was preparing for the upcoming Board meeting in May. At that meeting Rois intended to present a strategic measurement framework to align with AFC's strategic priorities. AFC's Strategic Roadmap for 2012-2017 was approved on May 31, 2012 and it outlined five priorities including, branding, marketing, funding for impact, operational adjustments and fundraising. While much had been accomplished in the last two years, Rois felt they needed to be more intentional in assessing the implementation of the plan and determining how best to allocate people, money and time resources to achieve the strategic priorities. She wanted to develop a measurement framework that would provide direction in determining how to allocate resources among the five priorities and permit a systematic evaluation of AFC's success moving forward for the last three years of the Roadmap.
Swot Analysis of "Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities" written by Gina Grandy, Daphne Rixon, Judy Rois includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rois Afc's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Strategic planning, Strategy execution and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rois Afc's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rois Afc's 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rois Afc's
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 Rois Afc's
Strengths Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rois Afc's in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rois Afc's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Rois Afc's in the sector have low bargaining power. Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rois Afc's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rois Afc's 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
– Rois Afc's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rois Afc's 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Rois Afc's 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 Rois Afc's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Rois Afc's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rois Afc's 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.
High brand equity
– Rois Afc's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rois Afc's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Rois Afc's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rois Afc's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Rois Afc's 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Rois Afc's 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 Rois Afc's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Rois Afc's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities, is just above the industry average. Rois Afc's 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rois Afc's 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. Rois Afc's 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gina Grandy, Daphne Rixon, Judy Rois suggests that, Rois Afc's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rois Afc's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rois Afc's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Rois Afc's 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rois Afc's 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rois Afc's, firm in the HBR case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities, it seems that the employees of Rois Afc's 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities | 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rois Afc's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rois Afc's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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
– Rois Afc's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rois Afc's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Rois Afc's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rois Afc's can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rois Afc's 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.
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. Rois Afc's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rois Afc's 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 Rois Afc's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rois Afc's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rois Afc's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Rois Afc's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Rois Afc's 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, Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Rois Afc's in the consumer business. Now Rois Afc's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rois Afc's 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.
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 Rois Afc's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Rois Afc's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rois Afc's 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rois Afc's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rois Afc's 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.
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. Rois Afc's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Rois Afc's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rois Afc's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rois Afc's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rois Afc's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Rois Afc's 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. Rois Afc's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Rois Afc's
– 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 Rois Afc's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Rois Afc's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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