Case Study Description of Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?
Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders decided it was time to experiment with different monetization strategies before deciding on a way forward. Although they wanted to avoid being prematurely pressured into decisions that went against their open-platform philosophy, they also knew that in order to fulfill their mission to democratize education, they had to eventually build a revenue-generating business. But what business model should they pursue and what monetization experiments should they run?
Swot Analysis of "Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?" written by Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lisa Mazzanti includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Codecademy Monetization facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Internet, IT and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Codecademy Monetization, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Codecademy Monetization
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 Codecademy Monetization
Strengths Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Codecademy Monetization in Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Codecademy Monetization
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Codecademy Monetization does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Codecademy Monetization in the sector have low bargaining power. Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Codecademy Monetization to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Codecademy Monetization is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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
– Codecademy Monetization is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Codecademy Monetization 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 Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lisa Mazzanti 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Codecademy Monetization has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Codecademy Monetization 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Codecademy Monetization are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy Monetization in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Codecademy Monetization in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy Monetization is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?, it seems that the employees of Codecademy Monetization 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Codecademy Monetization is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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, Codecademy Monetization 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy Monetization supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Codecademy Monetization vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Codecademy Monetization 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. Codecademy Monetization 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, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lisa Mazzanti suggests that, Codecademy Monetization 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Codecademy Monetization is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy Monetization 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Codecademy Monetization 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?, in the dynamic environment Codecademy Monetization has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Codecademy Monetization has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? | 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? are -
Loyalty marketing
– Codecademy Monetization has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Codecademy Monetization 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, Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Codecademy Monetization is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Codecademy Monetization can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy Monetization to increase its market reach. Codecademy Monetization 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Codecademy Monetization has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Codecademy Monetization to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Codecademy Monetization can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy Monetization to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Codecademy Monetization 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. Codecademy Monetization 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Codecademy Monetization 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Codecademy Monetization has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Codecademy Monetization to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? case study. Codecademy Monetization can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Codecademy Monetization 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.
Threats Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Codecademy Monetization 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Codecademy Monetization 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? .
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 Codecademy Monetization business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Codecademy Monetization
– 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 Codecademy Monetization.
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. Codecademy Monetization can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Codecademy Monetization 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. Codecademy Monetization can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Codecademy Monetization 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Codecademy Monetization with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Codecademy Monetization.
Regulatory challenges
– Codecademy Monetization 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Codecademy Monetization has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Codecademy Monetization 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Codecademy Monetization 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.
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. Codecademy Monetization needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement? 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 Codecademy Monetization needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.