BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change

Villy Wang founded BAYCAT in 2004 with the ambitious mission of ending inequality and racism through powerful storytelling. To accomplish that mission, she created a more financially sustainable nonprofit model. BAYCAT (Bayview-Hunters Point Center for the Arts and Technology) is run more like a business than a typical nonprofit. This hybrid model benefits multiple stakeholders including donors, clients, nonprofits, small businesses and local communities. To reduce the digital divide and provide job placement opportunities, BAYCAT operates both an Academy, a hands-on media school for underserved youth, and a Studio which partners with media professionals to create marketing materials. Many of the more than more 4,000 BAYCAT graduates have been hired by companies like Netflix, production companies, and ad agencies. This case explores BAYCAT's unique hybrid model and examines the possibility of replicating it for other socially responsible nonprofits. The BAYCAT example shows the benefits of blending aspects of nonprofit and for-profit structures. Also, this case highlights the timely topic of hybrid models with businesses increasingly communicating socially conscious brands.

Authors :: Andrew Isaacs

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: Gender, Marketing, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change" written by Andrew Isaacs includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Baycat Hybrid facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, Marketing, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Baycat Hybrid, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Baycat Hybrid 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Baycat Hybrid
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 Baycat Hybrid

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Strengths BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Baycat Hybrid in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change Harvard Business Review case study are -

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Baycat Hybrid 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 Baycat Hybrid are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Baycat Hybrid to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Baycat Hybrid to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High brand equity

– Baycat Hybrid has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Baycat Hybrid to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Analytics focus

– Baycat Hybrid 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 Isaacs 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Baycat Hybrid is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Diverse revenue streams

– Baycat Hybrid is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Baycat Hybrid 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Baycat Hybrid has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Baycat Hybrid has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Training and development

– Baycat Hybrid has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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

– Baycat Hybrid 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change are -

Lack of clear differentiation of Baycat Hybrid products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Baycat Hybrid needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Baycat Hybrid 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. Baycat Hybrid 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Baycat Hybrid 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 - BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Need for greater diversity

– Baycat Hybrid has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

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 Baycat Hybrid supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Baycat Hybrid vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Baycat Hybrid is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Baycat Hybrid 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Baycat Hybrid 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change, is just above the industry average. Baycat Hybrid 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Baycat Hybrid 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Baycat Hybrid 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.

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Opportunities BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change | 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change are -

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Baycat Hybrid 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

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Baycat Hybrid 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 Baycat Hybrid to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Baycat Hybrid 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Baycat Hybrid has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Baycat Hybrid to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change case study. Baycat Hybrid can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Manufacturing automation

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Baycat Hybrid 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Baycat Hybrid 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Baycat Hybrid to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

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 Baycat Hybrid 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Baycat Hybrid 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Baycat Hybrid is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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.

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Threats BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change are -

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Baycat Hybrid in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

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. Baycat Hybrid can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. Baycat Hybrid 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

– Baycat Hybrid can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Baycat Hybrid business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Baycat Hybrid 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change .

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.

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 Baycat Hybrid.

Increasing wage structure of Baycat Hybrid

– 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 Baycat Hybrid.

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 Baycat Hybrid in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Regulatory challenges

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Baycat Hybrid 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Baycat Hybrid 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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 BAYCAT: How a New Hybrid Nonprofit Model is Creating Sustainability and Driving Social Change 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 Baycat Hybrid needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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