Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way
In June 2017, a journalist was preparing a major news story about Lumni Inc. (Lumni), a company that he wanted to profile in the next issue of his Mexico City-based magazine. Lumni's mission was essentially a social one: to improve the conditions, access, and quality of higher education for young students, especially in Latin America. However, although its mission was originally non-profit, Lumni was not considered a non-governmental organization since it worked with a financially sustainable model and did not depend on donations or government funding. As the journalist investigated this business model, he learned that some experts referred to it as a hybrid business model. Although he had been gathering research on Lumni for some months, he still was unsure whether his report should promote hybrid business models as viable alternatives to traditional business models.
Authors :: Luis Felipe Marti Borbolla, Jose Alfredo Walls Gomez, June Cotte
Swot Analysis of "Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way" written by Luis Felipe Marti Borbolla, Jose Alfredo Walls Gomez, June Cotte includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lumni Journalist facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Innovation, Social enterprise and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lumni Journalist, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lumni Journalist
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 Lumni Journalist
Strengths Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lumni Journalist in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lumni Journalist 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Lumni Journalist 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 Luis Felipe Marti Borbolla, Jose Alfredo Walls Gomez, June Cotte 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lumni Journalist in the sector have low bargaining power. Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lumni Journalist to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Lumni Journalist digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lumni Journalist 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lumni Journalist to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lumni Journalist to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Lumni Journalist is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Lumni Journalist is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Lumni Journalist is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Lumni Journalist is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Lumni Journalist has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lumni Journalist to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Lumni Journalist has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lumni Journalist, firm in the HBR case study Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Luis Felipe Marti Borbolla, Jose Alfredo Walls Gomez, June Cotte suggests that, Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way, in the dynamic environment Lumni Journalist has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lumni Journalist has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lumni Journalist 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 - Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Lumni Journalist 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Lumni Journalist 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lumni Journalist is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lumni Journalist is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Lumni Journalist needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lumni Journalist to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Lumni Journalist products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Lumni Journalist needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way HBR case study mentions - Lumni Journalist 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.
Opportunities Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way | 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way are -
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. Lumni Journalist can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Lumni Journalist can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Lumni Journalist to increase its market reach. Lumni Journalist will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lumni Journalist can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lumni Journalist can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lumni Journalist operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lumni Journalist is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lumni Journalist 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lumni Journalist to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Lumni Journalist 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, Lumni Journalist 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Lumni Journalist 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lumni Journalist 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, Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Lumni Journalist 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. Lumni Journalist 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.
Threats Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way are -
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. Lumni Journalist needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lumni Journalist 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way .
Increasing wage structure of Lumni Journalist
– 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 Lumni Journalist.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lumni Journalist 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lumni Journalist has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lumni Journalist 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.
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. Lumni Journalist can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lumni Journalist in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Lumni Journalist 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.
Environmental challenges
– Lumni Journalist 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. Lumni Journalist can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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 Lumni Journalist in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way, Lumni Journalist 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lumni Journalist is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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 Lumni Inc.: Improving Society in a Sustainable Way 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 Lumni Journalist needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
