Jon Feinman founded InnerCity Weightlifting (ICW) in 2010 to improve the lives of young, active, urban gang members in the Boston area. He conceived of this venture after college when he began to apply his skills as a college soccer player and certified weight trainer to work with disadvantaged elementary school students in the AmeriCorps program, Athletes in Service in America.He was drawn to a subgroup in the AmeriCorps program which most of his fellow counselors avoided and warned him away from, young MS-13 gang members who were considered too dangerous and unwilling to change. After earning their trust by teaching them soccer skills, Jon developed a relationship with this group, shattering his preconceptions of their motivations and needs. Jon began to develop a plan to devote his life's work to bringing hope and opportunity to the group of young inner-city men identified as most likely to kill or be killed. He began his prototype operation in Boston. The vehicle was a free gym in the inner city where "student trainees" could begin to develop formal weightlifting training skills as a means to a new livelihood, experience a more positive community of mentors and peers, and through paid weight-training sessions for clients (typically white and wealthy), form a bridge between two very different socioeconomic groups. Publicity, notably through an ESPN video feature in 2012, created national and international awareness and demand for ICW gyms in different cities. Jon wanted to satisfy this demand, but he understood that his high-touch, locally focused, carefully managed program could not be exported quickly or formulaically without significant risk of failure and reputation damage. At the time of the case, Jon had carefully added a second, successful gym whose location straddled prosperous and dangerous neighborhoods in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had also launched a corporate training program and begun to build out his organization and fundraising to support growth. Seven years after founding ICW, Jon is now ready to contemplate expansion to his first new city, Philadelphia.
Swot Analysis of "InnerCity Weightlifting" written by Andrew Zacharakis, Mary Gale includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jon Icw facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in InnerCity Weightlifting case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Marketing and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the InnerCity Weightlifting casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of InnerCity Weightlifting
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in InnerCity Weightlifting case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jon Icw, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jon Icw 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 InnerCity Weightlifting can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in InnerCity Weightlifting case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jon Icw
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 Jon Icw
Strengths InnerCity Weightlifting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jon Icw in InnerCity Weightlifting Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Jon Icw is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in InnerCity Weightlifting 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.
Analytics focus
– Jon Icw 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 Andrew Zacharakis, Mary Gale 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Jon Icw is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Jon Icw 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 Jon Icw in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jon Icw digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jon Icw 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Jon Icw is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in InnerCity Weightlifting Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Jon Icw 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jon Icw 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 InnerCity Weightlifting HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jon Icw is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the InnerCity Weightlifting are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Jon Icw 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 Jon Icw is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in InnerCity Weightlifting Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the InnerCity Weightlifting 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jon Icw 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.
Weaknesses InnerCity Weightlifting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of InnerCity Weightlifting are -
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 Jon Icw supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - InnerCity Weightlifting, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jon Icw vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jon Icw is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Jon Icw needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jon Icw to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Jon Icw 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andrew Zacharakis, Mary Gale suggests that, Jon Icw 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jon Icw 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 - InnerCity Weightlifting should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study InnerCity Weightlifting 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 Jon Icw 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Jon Icw, firm in the HBR case study InnerCity Weightlifting needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study InnerCity Weightlifting 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 InnerCity Weightlifting can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jon Icw is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Jon Icw 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study InnerCity Weightlifting, it seems that the employees of Jon Icw 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, Jon Icw is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study InnerCity Weightlifting can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities InnerCity Weightlifting | 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 InnerCity Weightlifting are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jon Icw can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jon Icw operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jon Icw 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 Jon Icw to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Jon Icw 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, InnerCity Weightlifting, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jon Icw 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jon Icw has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jon Icw to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the InnerCity Weightlifting case study. Jon Icw can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jon Icw 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 InnerCity Weightlifting - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jon Icw to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jon Icw can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Jon Icw 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. Jon Icw 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.
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 Jon Icw 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Jon Icw 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Jon Icw 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Jon Icw can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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
– Jon Icw can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. InnerCity Weightlifting 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.
Threats InnerCity Weightlifting External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study InnerCity Weightlifting are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jon Icw 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.
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 Jon Icw business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Jon Icw
– 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 Jon Icw.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Jon Icw with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Jon Icw 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. Jon Icw can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jon Icw 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 InnerCity Weightlifting .
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jon Icw is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Jon Icw can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Jon Icw.
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. Jon Icw 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Jon Icw 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jon Icw 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of InnerCity Weightlifting 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 InnerCity Weightlifting 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 InnerCity Weightlifting 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 InnerCity Weightlifting 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 InnerCity Weightlifting 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 Jon Icw needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.