Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue
Supplement to case KS1253. On April 19, 2015, Freddie Gray, a young African American male, died while in the custody of the Baltimore Police. In response to his death, which occurred less than a year after a similar incident in Ferguson, Missouri, protestors mobilized daily in Baltimore to vocalize their frustrations, including what they saw as law enforcement's long-standing mistreatment of the African American community. Then, on April 27, following Gray's funeral, riots and acts of vandalism broke out across the city. Overwhelmed by the unrest, the Baltimore police requested assistance from other police forces. Later that evening, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the Maryland National Guard. At the local level, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a nightly curfew beginning Tuesday evening. "Into Local Streets" focuses on the role of the National Guard in the response to the protests and violence following Gray's death, vividly depicting the actions and decision-making processes of the Guard's senior-most leaders. In particular, it highlights the experience of the state's Adjutant General, Linda Singh, who soon found herself navigating a complicated web of officials and agencies from both state and local government - and their different perspectives on how to bring an end to the crisis. Case number 2116.0
Swot Analysis of "Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue" written by Arnold M. Howitt, Kirsten Lundberg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Baltimore Maryland facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Risk management and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue casestudy better are - – technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Baltimore Maryland, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Baltimore Maryland 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Baltimore Maryland
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Baltimore Maryland
Strengths Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Baltimore Maryland in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Baltimore Maryland is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Baltimore Maryland 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 Arnold M. Howitt, Kirsten Lundberg 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Baltimore Maryland digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Baltimore Maryland 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Baltimore Maryland is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Baltimore Maryland in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Baltimore Maryland 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.
Training and development
– Baltimore Maryland has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Baltimore Maryland has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Baltimore Maryland to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Baltimore Maryland to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Baltimore Maryland 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.
Organizational Resilience of Baltimore Maryland
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Baltimore Maryland does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Baltimore Maryland is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Baltimore Maryland 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. Baltimore Maryland 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Arnold M. Howitt, Kirsten Lundberg suggests that, Baltimore Maryland 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue, in the dynamic environment Baltimore Maryland has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Baltimore Maryland has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Baltimore Maryland, firm in the HBR case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Baltimore Maryland 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Baltimore Maryland is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Baltimore Maryland is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Baltimore Maryland needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Baltimore Maryland to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Baltimore Maryland has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Baltimore Maryland products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Baltimore Maryland needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue, it seems that the employees of Baltimore Maryland 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, Baltimore Maryland 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.
Opportunities Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue | 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Baltimore Maryland 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 Baltimore Maryland to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Baltimore Maryland can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Baltimore Maryland can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Baltimore Maryland operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Baltimore Maryland 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. Baltimore Maryland 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.
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 Baltimore Maryland in the consumer business. Now Baltimore Maryland can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Baltimore Maryland can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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
– Baltimore Maryland can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Baltimore Maryland 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, Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Baltimore Maryland is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Baltimore Maryland 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.
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. Baltimore Maryland can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Baltimore Maryland 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Baltimore Maryland in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue are -
Environmental challenges
– Baltimore Maryland 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. Baltimore Maryland can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Baltimore Maryland 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Baltimore Maryland can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Baltimore Maryland has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Baltimore Maryland needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Baltimore Maryland with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue, Baltimore Maryland may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Baltimore Maryland 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Baltimore Maryland 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 Global Business industry regulations.
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 Baltimore Maryland in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Baltimore Maryland 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Baltimore Maryland 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue .
Increasing wage structure of Baltimore Maryland
– 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 Baltimore Maryland.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Into Local Streets: Maryland National Guard and the Baltimore Riots, Epilogue 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 Baltimore Maryland needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
