Case Study Description of American Repertory Theatre--1988
American Repertory Theatre (ART) is one of the premier resident theatres in the United States. ART has been successful in following its vision, which is to advance the art of theatre by creating an ideal working environment for artists and promoting very high quality experimental theatre. It has maintained an unwavering commitment to this artistic vision in spite of significant pressures that stem from its economic dependence on public and private donations. Maintaining its sometimes controversial vision without disenfranchising its audience is a major challenge; students are required to determine the crucial variables upon which ART's success and survival depend and to analyze the risk factors, many of which are unique to this business. Finally, they are required to evaluate whether ART's success is sustainable.
Authors :: Christopher W.L. Hart, Jaime I. Ayala, Julie K. Falstad
Topics :: Technology & Operations
Tags :: Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "American Repertory Theatre--1988" written by Christopher W.L. Hart, Jaime I. Ayala, Julie K. Falstad includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Theatre Art's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in American Repertory Theatre--1988 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the American Repertory Theatre--1988 casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of American Repertory Theatre--1988
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in American Repertory Theatre--1988 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Theatre Art's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Theatre Art's 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in American Repertory Theatre--1988 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Theatre Art's
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 Theatre Art's
Strengths American Repertory Theatre--1988 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Theatre Art's in American Repertory Theatre--1988 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Theatre Art's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Theatre Art's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in American Repertory Theatre--1988 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.
Organizational Resilience of Theatre Art's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Theatre Art's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Theatre Art's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Theatre Art's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Theatre Art's 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Theatre Art's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Theatre Art's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Theatre Art's 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Theatre Art's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in American Repertory Theatre--1988 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Theatre Art's in the sector have low bargaining power. American Repertory Theatre--1988 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Theatre Art's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Theatre Art's 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Theatre Art's 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 Theatre Art's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Theatre Art's 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 Christopher W.L. Hart, Jaime I. Ayala, Julie K. Falstad 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.
Weaknesses American Repertory Theatre--1988 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of American Repertory Theatre--1988 are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Theatre Art's 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 - American Repertory Theatre--1988 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Theatre Art's, firm in the HBR case study American Repertory Theatre--1988 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, Theatre Art's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 Theatre Art's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Theatre Art's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Theatre Art's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 Theatre Art's 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 Theatre Art's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Theatre Art's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Theatre Art's 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. Theatre Art's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Theatre Art's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Theatre Art's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study American Repertory Theatre--1988, 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Theatre Art's 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.
Opportunities American Repertory Theatre--1988 | 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 are -
Manufacturing automation
– Theatre Art's 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Theatre Art's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Theatre Art's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 Theatre Art's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Theatre Art's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the American Repertory Theatre--1988 case study. Theatre Art's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Theatre Art's 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, Theatre Art's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Theatre Art's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Theatre Art's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Theatre Art's 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.
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 Theatre Art's in the consumer business. Now Theatre Art's 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 Theatre Art's 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 Theatre Art's 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 Theatre Art's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Theatre Art's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Theatre Art's to increase its market reach. Theatre Art's 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study American Repertory Theatre--1988 are -
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 Theatre Art's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Theatre Art's 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 Theatre Art's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study American Repertory Theatre--1988, Theatre Art's 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Theatre Art's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Theatre Art's 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Theatre Art's 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. Theatre Art's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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.
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 Theatre Art's.
Increasing wage structure of Theatre Art's
– 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 Theatre Art's.
Regulatory challenges
– Theatre Art's 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.
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. Theatre Art's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 American Repertory Theatre--1988 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 Theatre Art's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
