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Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics


One of the iconic developments of the 21st century is the growth of cities: by 2050, the number of citizens living in urban areas is expected to exceed 75 per cent-up from 53 per cent today. The implications are varied, and the authors look at them through a health lens. They describe five key aspects of urban life that must be carefully considered if people are to thrive in the world's cities. These include 'the primary education of girls' and 'commercial innovation capacity'. They then describe the ISO-approved framework developed by the World Council on City Data, which one of the authors heads up, which ranks the world's cities on a number of key elements of overall population health-including issues around water and sanitation and environmental safety. Going forward, they argue, this framework will allow for comparisons between the world's cities-and targeted responses.

Authors :: Patricia McCarney, Anita M. McGahan

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics" written by Patricia McCarney, Anita M. McGahan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cities World's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cities World's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cities World'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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cities World'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 Cities World's




Strengths Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cities World's in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Cities World'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 Cities World'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 Cities World'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

– Cities World's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cities World's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– Cities World's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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)

– Cities World'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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of Cities World's

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cities World's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Cities World's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Cities World'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 Cities World's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Strong track record of project management

– Cities World'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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Cities World's in the sector have low bargaining power. Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cities World's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cities World's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cities World'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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Cities World's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cities World's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Lack of clear differentiation of Cities World's products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cities World's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Need for greater diversity

– Cities World'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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cities World'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.

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 Cities World's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cities World's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics HBR case study mentions - Cities World's 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cities World'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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Cities World's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Cities World's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cities World's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Cities World's 's lucrative customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics, in the dynamic environment Cities World's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cities World's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics, 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics | 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics are -

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 Cities World's in the consumer business. Now Cities World's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Cities World'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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cities World's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Manufacturing automation

– Cities World'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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cities World's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cities World's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics case study. Cities World's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Buying journey improvements

– Cities World's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cities World's 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cities World's to increase its market reach. Cities World'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.

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. Cities World's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Cities World's 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cities World'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.

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. Cities World'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. Cities World'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.

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 Cities World'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.




Threats Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics are -

Increasing wage structure of Cities World'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 Cities World's.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Cities World's is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics, Cities World'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 .

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cities World'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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics .

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 Cities World's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Cities World'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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cities World'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.

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. Cities World's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Regulatory challenges

– Cities World'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.

Environmental challenges

– Cities World'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. Cities World's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cities World'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.

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. Cities World's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Cities World'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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Bright Lights, Healthy Cities: An Integrated Model of City Dynamics 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 Cities World's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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