Swot Analysis of "The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School" written by R. Edward Freeman, Wendy Bolger, Jenny Mead includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Uv1956 Emerson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Uv1956 Emerson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Uv1956 Emerson 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Uv1956 Emerson
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 Uv1956 Emerson
Strengths The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Uv1956 Emerson in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Uv1956 Emerson is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Uv1956 Emerson has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Organizational Resilience of Uv1956 Emerson
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Uv1956 Emerson does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Uv1956 Emerson in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Uv1956 Emerson 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 Uv1956 Emerson in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Uv1956 Emerson is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Uv1956 Emerson 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)
– Uv1956 Emerson 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Uv1956 Emerson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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
– Uv1956 Emerson 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Uv1956 Emerson digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Uv1956 Emerson has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Uv1956 Emerson is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Uv1956 Emerson has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
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 Uv1956 Emerson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Uv1956 Emerson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Uv1956 Emerson is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Uv1956 Emerson needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Uv1956 Emerson to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Uv1956 Emerson, firm in the HBR case study The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School HBR case study mentions - Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School, in the dynamic environment Uv1956 Emerson has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Uv1956 Emerson 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Opportunities The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School | 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Uv1956 Emerson 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 Uv1956 Emerson to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Uv1956 Emerson 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.
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 Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Uv1956 Emerson can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Uv1956 Emerson is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Uv1956 Emerson to increase its market reach. Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Uv1956 Emerson can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Uv1956 Emerson can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Uv1956 Emerson 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. Uv1956 Emerson can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Uv1956 Emerson can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Uv1956 Emerson 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Uv1956 Emerson to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Uv1956 Emerson with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School, Uv1956 Emerson 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 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. Uv1956 Emerson needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Uv1956 Emerson is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Uv1956 Emerson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Uv1956 Emerson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Uv1956 Emerson 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Uv1956 Emerson 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.
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 Uv1956 Emerson in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Uv1956 Emerson.
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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 The Ethics of Fundraising (B): the Annual Class Gift Campaign at the Emerson School 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 Uv1956 Emerson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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