Case Study Description of Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals
Wendy Lull, President of the non-profit Seacoast Science Center (SSC), was considering a substantial increase in the admission fee for the SSC facility in early 2008. The SSC's mission, "To create connections to nature through personal experience," was carried out through educational programs and exhibits targeting all ages. A number of new exhibits brought the flora and fauna of the seacoast of New Hampshire vividly to life, and illustrated many aspects of humans' interactions with the sea. Lull reviewed the changes since the SSC had become independent in 2001. There had been two major expansions, the most recent being an interactive learning studio that had opened in November 2007. She felt that the fee increase would help to cover a persistent $50,000 deficit in operating income. However, a fee increase might reduce visitation, which was already growing slowly, at best. A more fundamental strategic question might be whether the SSC should seek to grow, and if so, how.
Swot Analysis of "Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals" written by Margaret J. Naumes, Wendy W. Lull includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ssc Seacoast facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Pricing, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ssc Seacoast, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ssc Seacoast 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ssc Seacoast
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 Ssc Seacoast
Strengths Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ssc Seacoast in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Ssc Seacoast
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ssc Seacoast does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ssc Seacoast is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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.
Analytics focus
– Ssc Seacoast 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 Margaret J. Naumes, Wendy W. Lull 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ssc Seacoast is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ssc Seacoast has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ssc Seacoast 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ssc Seacoast has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Ssc Seacoast is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Ssc Seacoast has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ssc Seacoast 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ssc Seacoast in the sector have low bargaining power. Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ssc Seacoast to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ssc Seacoast 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ssc Seacoast 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals HBR case study mentions - Ssc Seacoast 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ssc Seacoast 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 - Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Ssc Seacoast has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ssc Seacoast, firm in the HBR case study Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ssc Seacoast 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ssc Seacoast is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Ssc Seacoast needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ssc Seacoast to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ssc Seacoast 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Ssc Seacoast 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals, in the dynamic environment Ssc Seacoast has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ssc Seacoast 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals, 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals | 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ssc Seacoast 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ssc Seacoast 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ssc Seacoast 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.
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. Ssc Seacoast 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. Ssc Seacoast 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ssc Seacoast can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ssc Seacoast can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ssc Seacoast operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ssc Seacoast 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ssc Seacoast to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ssc Seacoast 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.
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 Ssc Seacoast in the consumer business. Now Ssc Seacoast can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Ssc Seacoast 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ssc Seacoast is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ssc Seacoast has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ssc Seacoast to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals case study. Ssc Seacoast can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ssc Seacoast 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, Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ssc Seacoast 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ssc Seacoast 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ssc Seacoast 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.
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 Ssc Seacoast.
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. Ssc Seacoast 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ssc Seacoast 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.
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.
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 Ssc Seacoast in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Ssc Seacoast 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. Ssc Seacoast can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ssc Seacoast has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ssc Seacoast 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.
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 Ssc Seacoast business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ssc Seacoast demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Seacoast Science Center: Sailing the Shoals 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 Ssc Seacoast needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
