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 - – geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
Analytics focus
– Roi Productivity 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 Nancy Kulick, Mark Jeffery, Tim Riitters, Scott Abbott 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Training and development
– Roi Productivity has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Roi Productivity is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Roi Productivity is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Roi Productivity has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Roi Productivity to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment, in the dynamic environment Roi Productivity has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Roi Productivity has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Roi Productivity 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 Roi Productivity supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Roi Productivity vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment 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 San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Roi Productivity is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Roi Productivity 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 - The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Nancy Kulick, Mark Jeffery, Tim Riitters, Scott Abbott suggests that, Roi Productivity 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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Roi Productivity 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 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 -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Roi Productivity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Roi Productivity to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The San Diego City Schools: Enterprise Resource Planning Return on Investment case study. Roi Productivity can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Roi Productivity can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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 Roi Productivity 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Roi Productivity can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Roi Productivity operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Roi Productivity can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Roi Productivity can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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
– Roi Productivity has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Roi Productivity needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Roi Productivity
– 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 Roi Productivity.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Roi Productivity 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.
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.