Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age
In 2014, three former Code for America fellows embarked on a one-year skunk works journey to use technology to improve the enrollment process for California's SNAP (food stamp) program, CalFresh, to increase the number of residents receiving benefits in San Francisco. The case describes a user-centered approach to identifying bottlenecks within the CalFresh enrollment process and the low cost, fast solution proposed-and built-by the group. The case asks students to consider the opportunities, challenges and risks created by information technology in the public sector and whether taking a user-centered approach to policy implementation can improve social service delivery.
Swot Analysis of "Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age" written by David Eaves, Laura Winig includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Calfresh Stamp facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Social enterprise, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Calfresh Stamp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Calfresh Stamp 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Calfresh Stamp
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 Calfresh Stamp
Strengths Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Calfresh Stamp in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Calfresh Stamp 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Calfresh Stamp is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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
- Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Calfresh Stamp 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Calfresh Stamp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Calfresh Stamp has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Calfresh Stamp is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Calfresh Stamp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Calfresh Stamp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Calfresh Stamp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Calfresh Stamp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Calfresh Stamp, firm in the HBR case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Calfresh Stamp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Calfresh Stamp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Calfresh Stamp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Calfresh Stamp to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Calfresh Stamp is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age, it seems that the employees of Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Calfresh Stamp 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Calfresh Stamp 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Calfresh Stamp 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Calfresh Stamp 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 - Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age | 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Calfresh Stamp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Calfresh Stamp 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Calfresh Stamp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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.
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. Calfresh Stamp 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. Calfresh Stamp 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Calfresh Stamp 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.
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 Calfresh Stamp 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.
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. Calfresh Stamp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Calfresh Stamp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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.
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 Calfresh Stamp in the consumer business. Now Calfresh Stamp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Calfresh Stamp 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Calfresh Stamp 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Calfresh Stamp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Calfresh Stamp to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age case study. Calfresh Stamp can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age are -
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 Calfresh Stamp in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Calfresh Stamp 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Calfresh Stamp 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. Calfresh Stamp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Calfresh Stamp 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Calfresh Stamp 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Calfresh Stamp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Calfresh Stamp 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Calfresh Stamp 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 Calfresh Stamp.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age, Calfresh Stamp may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
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. Calfresh Stamp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Calfresh Stamp 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Hacking Bureaucracy: Reimagining California's Food Stamp Program in the Digital Age 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 Calfresh Stamp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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