La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause
The case recounts the development and implementation of the first social media campaign at La Protectora de la Infancia (La Protectora), a centenary, Chilean non-profit organization offering education and social assistance to children in need. With a large number of non-profits operating in several domains across the country, competition for volunteers and donations was high in the sector. However, Chile had one of the most engaged social media markets worldwide, and it had the highest rate of broadband connection in Latin America. In March 2016, the marketing team was planning the next fundraising campaign with the help of a social media marketing consultant. They needed to decide how the organization could use social media and the fundraising campaign to engage volunteers and donors, creating a stronger and more positive image for the institution.
Swot Analysis of "La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause" written by Daiane Scaraboto includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Protectora La facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Protectora La, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Protectora La 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Protectora La
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Protectora La
Strengths La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Protectora La in La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Protectora La 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 Protectora La 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 Protectora La in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Protectora La to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Protectora La to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Protectora La has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Protectora La to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Protectora La 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Protectora La 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 recruit top talent
– Protectora La is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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.
Organizational Resilience of Protectora La
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Protectora La does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Protectora La 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Protectora La 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Protectora La is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 Protectora La has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Protectora La 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Protectora La 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause HBR case study mentions - Protectora La takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Protectora La products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Protectora La needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Protectora La, firm in the HBR case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause, is just above the industry average. Protectora La 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Protectora La 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Protectora La is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Protectora La needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Protectora La to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause, it seems that the employees of Protectora La 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.
Opportunities La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause | 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause are -
Loyalty marketing
– Protectora La 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Protectora La can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Protectora La operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Protectora La can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Protectora La 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 Protectora La has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Protectora La to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause case study. Protectora La can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Protectora La 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.
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. Protectora La can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Protectora La 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Protectora La 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Protectora La can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Protectora La 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Protectora La to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Protectora La can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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.
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 Protectora La 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.
Threats La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause, Protectora La may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Protectora La in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Protectora La 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.
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. Protectora La needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Protectora La is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Protectora La 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause .
Increasing wage structure of Protectora La
– 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 Protectora La.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Protectora La 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.
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 Protectora La in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Protectora La has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Protectora La needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Protectora La 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Protectora La with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Protectora La 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 La Protectora: Engaging in Social Media for a Social Cause 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 Protectora La needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.