The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment
This case focuses on the challenge of quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of a large technology project, enterprise resource planning (ERP), in the nonprofit environment of the San Diego City Schools. The school district does not generate a profit, so traditional revenue enhancement arguments do not work. Instead, the case discusses the internal processes re-design and system consolidation enabled by the new ERP system. The system ROI is composed of two major components: cost savings from removal of legacy applications and productivity improvements. The cost containment benefits are relatively straightforward to quantify, but do not justify the system. The productivity improvements are harder to quantify, and many can be categorized as soft benefits. Furthermore, many of the productivity and cost-saving benefits will not be realized without personnel reductions, which are especially difficult in school districts and government agencies. The case debrief therefore discusses the tradeoffs quantifying soft benefits and productivity improvements, best practices for management decision making, and the organizational change necessary to realize the ROI.
Authors :: Nancy Kulick, Mark Jeffery, Tim Riitters, Scott Abbott
Swot Analysis of "The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment" written by Nancy Kulick, Mark Jeffery, Tim Riitters, Scott Abbott includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Roi Productivity facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Operations management, Organizational culture and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Roi Productivity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Roi Productivity 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Roi Productivity
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Roi Productivity
Strengths The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Roi Productivity in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Roi Productivity 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Roi Productivity is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Roi Productivity in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Roi Productivity
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Roi Productivity does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Roi Productivity 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Roi Productivity to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Roi Productivity to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Roi Productivity 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Roi Productivity has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Roi Productivity 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Roi Productivity is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Roi Productivity, firm in the HBR case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Roi Productivity 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, Roi Productivity 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 Roi Productivity has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment, is just above the industry average. Roi Productivity 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Roi Productivity is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Roi Productivity is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Roi Productivity needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Roi Productivity to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment, it seems that the employees of Roi Productivity don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment HBR case study mentions - Roi Productivity 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Roi Productivity 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. Roi Productivity 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Roi Productivity 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.
Opportunities The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment | 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Roi Productivity 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, The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Roi Productivity can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Roi Productivity 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, Roi Productivity is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Roi Productivity to increase its market reach. Roi Productivity will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Roi Productivity 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Roi Productivity can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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 Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Roi Productivity 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. Roi Productivity 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
– Roi Productivity can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Roi Productivity 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.
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 Roi Productivity in the consumer business. Now Roi Productivity can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Roi Productivity in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Roi Productivity needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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 Roi Productivity.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Roi Productivity 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Roi Productivity with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Roi Productivity is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Roi Productivity 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. Roi Productivity can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Roi Productivity business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Roi Productivity 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 The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline 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. Roi Productivity needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 Roi Productivity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.