Swot Analysis of "Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement" written by Patrick Henry, Susan S. Harmeling includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Scg529 Wolo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Scg529 Wolo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Scg529 Wolo 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Scg529 Wolo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Scg529 Wolo
Strengths Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Scg529 Wolo in Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Scg529 Wolo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Scg529 Wolo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Scg529 Wolo in the sector have low bargaining power. Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Scg529 Wolo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Scg529 Wolo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Scg529 Wolo 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Scg529 Wolo 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 Scg529 Wolo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Scg529 Wolo 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 Patrick Henry, Susan S. Harmeling 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Scg529 Wolo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Scg529 Wolo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Scg529 Wolo has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Strong track record of project management
– Scg529 Wolo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Scg529 Wolo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Scg529 Wolo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Scg529 Wolo
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Scg529 Wolo does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Weaknesses Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Patrick Henry, Susan S. Harmeling suggests that, Scg529 Wolo 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Scg529 Wolo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Scg529 Wolo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Scg529 Wolo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Scg529 Wolo 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. Scg529 Wolo 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Scg529 Wolo is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement HBR case study mentions - Scg529 Wolo 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Scg529 Wolo 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Scg529 Wolo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Scg529 Wolo 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Scg529 Wolo, firm in the HBR case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Scg529 Wolo 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 - Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement | 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Scg529 Wolo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Scg529 Wolo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Scg529 Wolo 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 Scg529 Wolo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Scg529 Wolo to increase its market reach. Scg529 Wolo 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Scg529 Wolo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Scg529 Wolo has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Scg529 Wolo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Scg529 Wolo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Scg529 Wolo to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement case study. Scg529 Wolo 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
– Scg529 Wolo can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Scg529 Wolo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Scg529 Wolo 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 Scg529 Wolo 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
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 Scg529 Wolo in the consumer business. Now Scg529 Wolo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Scg529 Wolo 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.
Threats Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Scg529 Wolo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Scg529 Wolo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Scg529 Wolo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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. Scg529 Wolo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Scg529 Wolo 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, Scg529 Wolo 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement, Scg529 Wolo may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Environmental challenges
– Scg529 Wolo 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. Scg529 Wolo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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.
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 Scg529 Wolo in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Scg529 Wolo 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.
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 Scg529 Wolo.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Scg529 Wolo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Wolo: The Highs and Lows of a Socially-Conscious Venture, Supplement 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 Scg529 Wolo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.