Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives
The practice of corporate philanthropy has evolved significantly over the past several decades and has now become an integral part of corporate strategy. This article identifies an emerging form of corporate community involvement called "Corporate Social Initiatives" (CSI). These programs differ from their predecessors in that they are connected to the firm's core values, responsive to moral pressures, based on the firm's core competencies, and have clear objectives and means of measurement. Firms are adopting these initiatives as part of a strategy that seeks competitive advantage through reputation assets or as a response to perceived pressures from the moral marketplace. This article explicates the drivers behind the increased interest in CSI, relates CSI to changes in the environment of social expectations for business, reviews potential challenges to CSI programs, and suggests critical factors in the design of successful CSI programs.
Authors :: David Hess, Nikolai Rogovsky, Thomas W. Dunfee
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Public relations, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives" written by David Hess, Nikolai Rogovsky, Thomas W. Dunfee includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Csi Corporate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Csi Corporate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Csi Corporate 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Csi Corporate
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 Csi Corporate
Strengths Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Csi Corporate in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Csi Corporate 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 David Hess, Nikolai Rogovsky, Thomas W. Dunfee 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Csi Corporate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Csi Corporate has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Csi Corporate 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.
Training and development
– Csi Corporate has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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
– Csi Corporate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Csi Corporate 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Csi Corporate 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Csi Corporate 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 Csi Corporate is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Csi Corporate in the sector have low bargaining power. Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Csi Corporate to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Csi Corporate 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 Csi Corporate in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Csi Corporate 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.
Weaknesses Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David Hess, Nikolai Rogovsky, Thomas W. Dunfee suggests that, Csi Corporate 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Csi Corporate has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Csi Corporate 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. Csi Corporate 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Csi Corporate 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Csi Corporate 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 - Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Csi Corporate supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Csi Corporate vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Csi Corporate, firm in the HBR case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives, is just above the industry average. Csi Corporate 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Csi Corporate 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives, in the dynamic environment Csi Corporate has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Csi Corporate has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Csi Corporate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Csi Corporate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Csi Corporate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives | 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Csi Corporate can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Csi Corporate 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Csi Corporate 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Csi Corporate 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 Csi Corporate 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Csi Corporate 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Csi Corporate is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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.
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. Csi Corporate can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Csi Corporate has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Csi Corporate to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives case study. Csi Corporate can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Csi Corporate can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Csi Corporate operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Csi Corporate can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Csi Corporate in the consumer business. Now Csi Corporate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Csi Corporate 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives are -
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. Csi Corporate 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.
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 Csi Corporate in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Csi Corporate 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 wage structure of Csi Corporate
– 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 Csi Corporate.
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.
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. Csi Corporate needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Csi Corporate can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Csi Corporate 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 Csi Corporate 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Csi Corporate 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives, Csi Corporate 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Csi Corporate 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Next Wave of Corporate Community Involvement: Corporate Social Initiatives 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 Csi Corporate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.