District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform
After nearly four years of controversial reform that included layoffs, school closures and battles with the Washington Teachers' Union over tenure and seniority, Michelle Rhee resigned as Chancellor of DC Public Schools on October, 13, 2010 when Mayor Adrian Fenty lost the democratic primaries to challenger and critic of Rhee's style, city councilman Vincent Gray. Education reform had been the central focus of Mayor Fenty's ambitious administration when he hired Michelle Rhee. But now the nation's most provocative urban school reform effort was thwarted and the fate of DC schools, under newly appointed Kaya Henderson, was once again up in the air. Case number 2117.0
Swot Analysis of "District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform" written by Timothy J. O'Brien includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reform Rhee facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reform Rhee, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reform Rhee 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reform Rhee
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 Reform Rhee
Strengths District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reform Rhee in District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reform Rhee 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Reform Rhee is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Reform Rhee 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 Timothy J. O'Brien 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.
High brand equity
– Reform Rhee has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Reform Rhee to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Reform Rhee is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Reform Rhee in the sector have low bargaining power. District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Reform Rhee to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Reform Rhee has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Reform Rhee 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Reform Rhee 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Reform Rhee 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Reform Rhee digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Reform Rhee 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Reform Rhee is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Reform Rhee
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Reform Rhee does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform HBR case study mentions - Reform Rhee 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Reform Rhee 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Reform Rhee 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Reform Rhee 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. Reform Rhee 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform, it seems that the employees of Reform Rhee 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Reform Rhee, firm in the HBR case study District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Reform Rhee 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Timothy J. O'Brien suggests that, Reform Rhee 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.
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 Reform Rhee supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Reform Rhee vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Reform Rhee 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 - District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform | 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Reform Rhee can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Reform Rhee can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Reform Rhee 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Reform Rhee to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reform Rhee has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reform Rhee to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform case study. Reform Rhee can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Reform Rhee 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. Reform Rhee 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Reform Rhee is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Reform Rhee can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Reform Rhee 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Reform Rhee 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.
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 Reform Rhee in the consumer business. Now Reform Rhee can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Reform Rhee 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 Reform Rhee 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reform Rhee 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.
Threats District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform are -
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 Reform Rhee in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Reform Rhee 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. Reform Rhee can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Reform Rhee 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.
Increasing wage structure of Reform Rhee
– 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 Reform Rhee.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Reform Rhee 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform .
Regulatory challenges
– Reform Rhee 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Reform Rhee is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reform Rhee has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reform Rhee 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Reform Rhee 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.
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. Reform Rhee 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.
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 Reform Rhee business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Reform Rhee needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform 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 District of Columbia Public Schools: Politics, Jobs, Race, Children & Reform 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 Reform Rhee needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
