Swot Analysis of "Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video" written by Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Discuss Caring facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Organizational structure, Strategy execution, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Discuss Caring, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Discuss Caring 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Discuss Caring
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 Discuss Caring
Strengths Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Discuss Caring in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Discuss Caring 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.
Organizational Resilience of Discuss Caring
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Discuss Caring 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 Discuss Caring in the sector have low bargaining power. Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Discuss Caring to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Discuss Caring 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 Discuss Caring in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Discuss Caring is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Discuss Caring is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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.
Training and development
– Discuss Caring has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Discuss Caring 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 Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Discuss Caring 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.
High brand equity
– Discuss Caring has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Discuss Caring to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Discuss Caring is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Discuss Caring to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Discuss Caring to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Discuss Caring is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Discuss Caring needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Discuss Caring 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Discuss Caring 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Discuss Caring 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Discuss Caring has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Discuss Caring, firm in the HBR case study Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Discuss Caring 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 - Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Discuss Caring has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video HBR case study mentions - Discuss Caring 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.
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 Discuss Caring supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Discuss Caring vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video, in the dynamic environment Discuss Caring has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Discuss Caring has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video | 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video are -
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. Discuss Caring can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Discuss Caring 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Discuss Caring 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, Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Discuss Caring 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 Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Discuss Caring to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Discuss Caring 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 Discuss Caring to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Discuss Caring is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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. Discuss Caring can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Discuss Caring can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Discuss Caring 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Discuss Caring has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Discuss Caring to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video case study. Discuss Caring can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Discuss Caring 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.
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 Discuss Caring in the consumer business. Now Discuss Caring can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Discuss Caring 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.
Threats Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Discuss Caring has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Discuss Caring 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 Discuss Caring 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, Discuss Caring 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Discuss Caring is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Discuss Caring needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Discuss Caring with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Discuss Caring 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Discuss Caring 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.
Environmental challenges
– Discuss Caring 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. Discuss Caring can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Discuss Caring 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.
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. Discuss Caring can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bright Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Horizons: "Caring for Tomorrow," Video 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 Discuss Caring needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.