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A New Vision for the Stratford Festival SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of A New Vision for the Stratford Festival


In January 2016, the executive director of Canada's Stratford Festival, one of North America's largest repertory theatre companies, was considering the festival's long-term outlook and the role the organization played in the community. The 2015 season had been successful, and she would be able to report a small surplus to the board at the upcoming annual general meeting. But the long-term outlook wasn't as secure. Annual attendance had dropped below previous levels of more than 500,000, which was the attendance needed to ensure long-term operational sustainability. The festival had returned to its creative roots during a period when the Canadian dollar had been in decline, but it had not been enough to ensure that the organization would survive its next economic tempest. The festival needed a long-term, innovative strategy to generate sustainable growth and strengthen it sufficiently to weather future economic downturns and exchange rate fluctuations.

Authors :: Gerard Seijts, Robert Way

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: Leadership, Strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "A New Vision for the Stratford Festival" written by Gerard Seijts, Robert Way includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Festival Stratford facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Strategy and Organizational Development.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A New Vision for the Stratford Festival casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A New Vision for the Stratford Festival


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Festival Stratford, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Festival Stratford 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Festival Stratford
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Festival Stratford




Strengths A New Vision for the Stratford Festival | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Festival Stratford in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Festival Stratford 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Festival Stratford are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Training and development

– Festival Stratford has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Festival Stratford 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Learning organization

- Festival Stratford 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 Festival Stratford is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Festival Stratford has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Organizational Resilience of Festival Stratford

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Festival Stratford does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

High brand equity

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

Innovation driven organization

– Festival Stratford is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A New Vision for the Stratford Festival Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field

– Festival Stratford 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 Festival Stratford in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Festival Stratford 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 Gerard Seijts, Robert Way 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.






Weaknesses A New Vision for the Stratford Festival | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of A New Vision for the Stratford Festival are -

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Festival Stratford is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Festival Stratford needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Festival Stratford to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Festival Stratford 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gerard Seijts, Robert Way suggests that, Festival Stratford 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Festival Stratford 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 to strategic competitive environment developments

– As A New Vision for the Stratford Festival HBR case study mentions - Festival Stratford 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 Festival Stratford 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival, is just above the industry average. Festival Stratford 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Festival Stratford is planning to shift buying processes online.

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 Festival Stratford supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A New Vision for the Stratford Festival, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Festival Stratford vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival, in the dynamic environment Festival Stratford has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Festival Stratford has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.




Opportunities A New Vision for the Stratford Festival | 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival are -

Loyalty marketing

– Festival Stratford 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Festival Stratford 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Festival Stratford 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. Festival Stratford 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Festival Stratford 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 Organizational Development segment.

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. Festival Stratford can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Festival Stratford is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Festival Stratford to increase its market reach. Festival Stratford 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Festival Stratford can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Festival Stratford operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.

Developing new processes and practices

– Festival Stratford can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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 Festival Stratford 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Festival Stratford can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Festival Stratford can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Festival Stratford 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.




Threats A New Vision for the Stratford Festival External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival are -

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Festival Stratford in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.

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. Festival Stratford 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.

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 Festival Stratford.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Festival Stratford 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.

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. Festival Stratford needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development 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, Festival Stratford 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival .

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A New Vision for the Stratford Festival, Festival Stratford may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Festival Stratford with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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 Festival Stratford in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Festival Stratford has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Festival Stratford needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Festival Stratford 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.

Increasing wage structure of Festival Stratford

– 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 Festival Stratford.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 A New Vision for the Stratford Festival 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 Festival Stratford needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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