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 household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions,
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, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rois Afc's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rois Afc's 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.
Analytics focus
– Rois Afc's 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 Gina Grandy, Daphne Rixon, Judy Rois 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.
Training and development
– Rois Afc's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Rois Afc's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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 -
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Rois Afc's 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 - Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rois Afc's is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rois Afc's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities 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 Rois Afc's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Rois Afc's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rois Afc's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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 -
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. Rois Afc's 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. Rois Afc's 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.
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.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rois Afc's to increase its market reach. Rois Afc's 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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Rois Afc's 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.
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. Rois Afc's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rois Afc's 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing 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 .
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. Rois Afc's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Assessing the Success of a Divine Plan: The Anglican Foundation of Canada's Strategic Priorities, Rois Afc's 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 Rois Afc's.
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.
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. Rois Afc's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rois Afc's 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.
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.
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.
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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