A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China
ABC (A Better Community) provided pro-bono and paid management consulting services to nongovernment organizations in mainland China. Founded in 2008, ABC had quickly expanded from a voluntary group in Beijing with 7 volunteers in to a well-organized NGO with several hundred volunteers operating in 4 cities, serving more than one hundred NGOs. However, the rapid development also brought many challenges to both the running of the organization and how to best achieve its social mission. Case number 2119.0
Swot Analysis of "A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China" written by Christopher Marquis, Zhishuang Guan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Abc Volunteers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Abc Volunteers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Abc Volunteers 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Abc Volunteers
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Abc Volunteers
Strengths A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Abc Volunteers in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Abc Volunteers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Abc Volunteers in the sector have low bargaining power. A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Abc Volunteers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Abc Volunteers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Abc Volunteers 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Abc Volunteers 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Abc Volunteers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Abc Volunteers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Abc Volunteers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Abc Volunteers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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.
Analytics focus
– Abc Volunteers 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 Christopher Marquis, Zhishuang Guan 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Abc Volunteers 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 Abc Volunteers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Abc Volunteers 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.
Learning organization
- Abc Volunteers 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 Abc Volunteers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China are -
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 Abc Volunteers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Abc Volunteers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Abc Volunteers 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Abc Volunteers is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China, it seems that the employees of Abc Volunteers 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Abc Volunteers 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Abc Volunteers 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 - A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Abc Volunteers 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Abc Volunteers 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Abc Volunteers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Abc Volunteers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China, is just above the industry average. Abc Volunteers 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.
Opportunities A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China | 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Abc Volunteers 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 A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Abc Volunteers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Abc Volunteers 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, A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Abc Volunteers to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Abc Volunteers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Abc Volunteers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Abc Volunteers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Abc Volunteers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Abc Volunteers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China case study. Abc Volunteers 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Abc Volunteers 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. Abc Volunteers 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.
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 Abc Volunteers 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Abc Volunteers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Abc Volunteers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Abc Volunteers 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.
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 Abc Volunteers in the consumer business. Now Abc Volunteers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Abc Volunteers in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Abc Volunteers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Abc Volunteers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Abc Volunteers needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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 Abc Volunteers in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Abc Volunteers 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Abc Volunteers 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Abc Volunteers in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Abc Volunteers 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.
Increasing wage structure of Abc Volunteers
– 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 Abc Volunteers.
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.
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 Abc Volunteers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Abc Volunteers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Abc Volunteers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Abc Volunteers needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Abc Volunteers 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Better Community (ABC): Developing the NGO Infrastructure in China 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 Abc Volunteers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.