Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont
A nonprofit that has grown from a "family business" into a large, multimillion dollar entity with a resulting need for more professional management. Case is set at the time of a change in leadership from a CEO who appears to have run the organization more in terms of his charisma than as a professional manager. The new CEO, who has come out of the organization's ranks (and is married to the CFO) now must assess the kinds of changes he will make, given that the organization is facing some large deficits.
Swot Analysis of "Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont" written by David W. Young includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Easter Charisma facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Organizational structure, Strategy and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Easter Charisma, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Easter Charisma 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Easter Charisma
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Easter Charisma
Strengths Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Easter Charisma in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Easter Charisma has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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.
Learning organization
- Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Easter Charisma digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Easter Charisma 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Easter Charisma 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Easter Charisma to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Easter Charisma to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Easter Charisma is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Easter Charisma in the sector have low bargaining power. Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Easter Charisma to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Easter Charisma
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Easter Charisma does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Easter Charisma 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Easter Charisma is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Finance & Accounting field
– Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Easter Charisma 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. Easter Charisma 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Easter Charisma is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Easter Charisma 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Easter Charisma 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Easter Charisma 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, David W. Young suggests that, Easter Charisma 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Easter Charisma has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Easter Charisma, firm in the HBR case study Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont, it seems that the employees of Easter Charisma 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Easter Charisma 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Easter Charisma is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont | 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Easter Charisma 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Easter Charisma 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. Easter Charisma 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Easter Charisma can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Easter Charisma to increase its market reach. Easter Charisma 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Easter Charisma 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, Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Easter Charisma is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Easter Charisma 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Easter Charisma can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma in the consumer business. Now Easter Charisma can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Easter Charisma 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Easter Charisma to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Easter Charisma to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont are -
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Easter Charisma 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Easter Charisma 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont .
Environmental challenges
– Easter Charisma 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. Easter Charisma can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Easter Charisma 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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. Easter Charisma needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Easter Charisma can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Easter Charisma 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Easter Charisma in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Easter Charisma 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 Easter Charisma in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont 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 Easter Charisma needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
