Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move
In Serbia, citizens are reluctant to become politically active but young leaders BaboviA? and Stojicic, the case protagonists, are determined to prod their peers into taking a stronger role in the country's government. Using community organizing principles, they launch Serbia on the Move, a nongovernmental organization created to organize and energize citizens to drive change in Serbia. On several occasions, Serbia on the Move's leaders find themselves at odds with the Serbian government as they campaign for the adoption of anti-corruption practices, maternity benefits and other programs and policies. The case describes the organization from its founding through its quest to scale nationally and its goals of building a strong organizational structure, volunteer base and impactful campaigns. Case number 2108.0
Swot Analysis of "Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move" written by Marshall Ganz, Laura Winig includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Serbia Citizens facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Leadership, Leadership development and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Serbia Citizens, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Serbia Citizens 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Serbia Citizens
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Serbia Citizens
Strengths Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Serbia Citizens in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Serbia Citizens
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Serbia Citizens 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 Serbia Citizens 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 recruit top talent
– Serbia Citizens is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Serbia Citizens has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Serbia Citizens 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Serbia Citizens 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 Serbia Citizens in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Serbia Citizens 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Serbia Citizens to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Serbia Citizens to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Serbia Citizens has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Serbia Citizens to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Serbia Citizens is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Serbia Citizens is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Serbia Citizens 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 Serbia Citizens is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Serbia Citizens in the sector have low bargaining power. Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Serbia Citizens to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move, in the dynamic environment Serbia Citizens has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Serbia Citizens has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Serbia Citizens 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Serbia Citizens, firm in the HBR case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Marshall Ganz, Laura Winig suggests that, Serbia Citizens is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Serbia Citizens products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Serbia Citizens 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move, is just above the industry average. Serbia Citizens 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Serbia Citizens is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Serbia Citizens needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Serbia Citizens to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Serbia Citizens 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move, it seems that the employees of Serbia Citizens 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Serbia Citizens is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Serbia Citizens 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move | 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Serbia Citizens has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Serbia Citizens to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move case study. Serbia Citizens can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Serbia Citizens can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Serbia Citizens can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Serbia Citizens to increase its market reach. Serbia Citizens 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Serbia Citizens 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Serbia Citizens can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Serbia Citizens 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Serbia Citizens 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 Organizational Development segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Serbia Citizens can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Serbia Citizens can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Serbia Citizens operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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 Serbia Citizens in the consumer business. Now Serbia Citizens can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Serbia Citizens can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Serbia Citizens 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 Serbia Citizens to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move are -
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.
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 Serbia Citizens in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move, Serbia Citizens may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Serbia Citizens 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Serbia Citizens 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.
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 Serbia Citizens business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Serbia Citizens 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
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. Serbia Citizens 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.
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. Serbia Citizens needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Serbia Citizens
– 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 Serbia Citizens.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Serbia Citizens 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Serbia Citizens can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Building a Community Organizing Organization: Serbia on the Move 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 Serbia Citizens needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
