Case Study Description of Project ACHIEVE: January 2000
Education services target public schools to assist the school with technology and services that will improve their communication with students, parents, and the community. There is also the goal of increasing scores of measured learning. How does a small company do this? How do they operate nationally with contract employees and maintain a consistent level of service and performance?
Swot Analysis of "Project ACHIEVE: January 2000" written by H. Kent Bowen, Liz Kind includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nationally Scores facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Venture capital and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Project ACHIEVE: January 2000
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nationally Scores, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nationally Scores 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nationally Scores
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 Nationally Scores
Strengths Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nationally Scores in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nationally Scores in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Nationally Scores 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 H. Kent Bowen, Liz Kind 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nationally Scores 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
– Nationally Scores 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 Nationally Scores in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nationally Scores is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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.
Organizational Resilience of Nationally Scores
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nationally Scores does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Nationally Scores has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nationally Scores 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nationally Scores 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.
Learning organization
- Nationally Scores 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 Nationally Scores is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nationally Scores in the sector have low bargaining power. Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nationally Scores to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nationally Scores 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nationally Scores is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Nationally Scores needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nationally Scores to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nationally Scores is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nationally Scores 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nationally Scores, firm in the HBR case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nationally Scores products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nationally Scores needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000, is just above the industry average. Nationally Scores needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 HBR case study mentions - Nationally Scores 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nationally Scores has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nationally Scores 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 - Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nationally Scores needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nationally Scores is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 | 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 are -
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 Nationally Scores in the consumer business. Now Nationally Scores can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Nationally Scores 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. Nationally Scores 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nationally Scores 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nationally Scores 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 Nationally Scores 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 Nationally Scores to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nationally Scores has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nationally Scores to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 case study. Nationally Scores can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Nationally Scores 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nationally Scores 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Nationally Scores 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nationally Scores 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nationally Scores 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Nationally Scores can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nationally Scores can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nationally Scores operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Threats Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Project ACHIEVE: January 2000, Nationally Scores 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
– Nationally Scores 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, Nationally Scores 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nationally Scores demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Nationally Scores in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nationally Scores with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Nationally Scores business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Nationally Scores 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. Nationally Scores can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nationally Scores 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.
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. Nationally Scores 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.
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 Nationally Scores.
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. Nationally Scores needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Project ACHIEVE: January 2000 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 Nationally Scores needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.