Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India
Founders Vineet and Anupama Nayar had rapidly scaled their foundation to reach 3 million primary school children (grades 1 to 3) in two states with Math and English programs. Their goal was to reach 10 million children by 2025 and completely spend down the $100 million foundation corpus. A new opportunity presented itself in a third state with a potential to add another 4 million children. In grappling with this new opportunity they had to make certain strategic decisions on whether to go deeper (expand to grades 4 and 5) or go broader to more grade 1 to 3 children. They were wrestling with the question of which option would lead to more impact and leave their social innovation in a sustainable position after their exit.
Swot Analysis of "Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India" written by V. Kasturi Rangan, Shweta Bagai includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Children Grades facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Government, Growth strategy, Innovation, Joint ventures, Managing organizations and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Children Grades, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Children Grades 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Children Grades
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 Children Grades
Strengths Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Children Grades in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Children Grades
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Children Grades 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 Children Grades 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Children Grades is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Children Grades digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Children Grades 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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.
Training and development
– Children Grades has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Children Grades is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Children Grades has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Children Grades to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Children Grades 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 Children Grades in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Children Grades in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Children Grades in the sector have low bargaining power. Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Children Grades to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Children Grades to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Children Grades to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Children Grades, firm in the HBR case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, V. Kasturi Rangan, Shweta Bagai suggests that, Children Grades 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Children Grades 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India, it seems that the employees of Children Grades 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Children Grades 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Children Grades supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Children Grades vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Children Grades 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Children Grades products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Children Grades needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Children Grades is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India, is just above the industry average. Children Grades 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Children Grades 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India | 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Children Grades 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Children Grades to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Children Grades can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Children Grades 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Children Grades 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Children Grades 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, Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Children Grades can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Children Grades 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Children Grades is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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.
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. Children Grades can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Children Grades 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Children Grades 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 Children Grades to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Children Grades in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Children Grades to increase its market reach. Children Grades 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India are -
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.
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. Children Grades needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Children Grades is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Children Grades in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Children Grades business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Children Grades.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Children Grades with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Children Grades 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. Children Grades 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Children Grades
– 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 Children Grades.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Children Grades 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Children Grades has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Children Grades 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India 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 Children Grades needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
