Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication
The last in a five-part series about Bell Atlantic Corp.'s technology-in-education partnership with the Union City, New Jersey school system. Reviews the various outcomes of the partnership called Project Explore, from the perspective of Bell Atlantic managers and students, teachers, parents, and administrators in the Union City school system. Also describes efforts to replicate or expand the project. Video 9-399-501 is a short version of the case series and may be used in conjunction with it.
Swot Analysis of "Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ellen Pruyne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bell Atlantic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bell Atlantic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bell Atlantic 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bell Atlantic
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 Bell Atlantic
Strengths Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bell Atlantic in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Bell Atlantic 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ellen Pruyne can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Innovation driven organization
– Bell Atlantic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bell Atlantic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bell Atlantic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Bell Atlantic 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 Bell Atlantic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Bell Atlantic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bell Atlantic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bell Atlantic 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bell Atlantic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bell Atlantic 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bell Atlantic 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bell Atlantic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bell Atlantic 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bell Atlantic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bell Atlantic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Bell Atlantic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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.
Weaknesses Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication HBR case study mentions - Bell Atlantic 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 Bell Atlantic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bell Atlantic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bell Atlantic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bell Atlantic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bell Atlantic, firm in the HBR case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication, is just above the industry average. Bell Atlantic 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bell Atlantic 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Bell Atlantic 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bell Atlantic 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication, it seems that the employees of Bell Atlantic 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bell Atlantic 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 - Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication | 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bell Atlantic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bell Atlantic 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bell Atlantic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bell Atlantic 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bell Atlantic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bell Atlantic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bell Atlantic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication case study. Bell Atlantic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bell Atlantic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bell Atlantic has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bell Atlantic in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Bell Atlantic in the consumer business. Now Bell Atlantic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bell Atlantic 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bell Atlantic 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.
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. Bell Atlantic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bell Atlantic to increase its market reach. Bell Atlantic 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.
Threats Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bell Atlantic 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bell Atlantic 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bell Atlantic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Bell Atlantic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Bell Atlantic.
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 Bell Atlantic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bell Atlantic 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.
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 Bell Atlantic in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Bell Atlantic 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.
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. Bell Atlantic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bell Atlantic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bell Atlantic 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication 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 Bell Atlantic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
