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Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point


This case illustrates how AACI, a non-profit organization that provides health care services to mainly low-income immigrants in San Jose, California, is confronted with the strategic choice of whether to expand its services to a satellite site on the city's east side while an expansion project is currently underway at its central city location. As the tenth largest city in the U.S., San Jose is now 32 percent Asian, with a large portion of that segment being recent immigrants within the last 10 years. AACI's patient case load is expected to increase in the immediate future, due to the continued influx of both Asian and Latino immigrants and the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Lew and her management team must decide how to best meet this increased demand for social and health services. The case examines whether AACI has the financial reserves to undertake an aggressive multi-site expansion plan, and how the nonprofit should weigh any strategic decision against other fiscal demands, including ongoing maintenance for the office building that it owns, operates and partially rents out to another tenant.

Authors :: Brent Copen

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Decision making, Financial analysis, Leadership, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point" written by Brent Copen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aaci Immigrants facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Financial analysis, Leadership and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aaci Immigrants, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aaci Immigrants 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aaci Immigrants
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 Aaci Immigrants




Strengths Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Aaci Immigrants in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

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

Analytics focus

– Aaci Immigrants 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 Brent Copen 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Aaci Immigrants is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Aaci Immigrants in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Aaci Immigrants 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Innovation driven organization

– Aaci Immigrants is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Organizational Resilience of Aaci Immigrants

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Aaci Immigrants is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Learning organization

- Aaci Immigrants 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 Aaci Immigrants is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Aaci Immigrants has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aaci Immigrants 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.

High brand equity

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

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aaci Immigrants digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aaci Immigrants 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.






Weaknesses Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aaci Immigrants is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, it seems that the employees of Aaci Immigrants 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aaci Immigrants 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 Aaci Immigrants supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Aaci Immigrants vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Aaci Immigrants 's lucrative customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, in the dynamic environment Aaci Immigrants has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aaci Immigrants has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Aaci Immigrants has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Aaci Immigrants 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Aaci Immigrants 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point HBR case study mentions - Aaci Immigrants 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.




Opportunities Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point | 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

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 Aaci Immigrants 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Aaci Immigrants 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, Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Increase in government spending

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

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. Aaci Immigrants 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. Aaci Immigrants 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aaci Immigrants 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.

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. Aaci Immigrants can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Aaci Immigrants 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aaci Immigrants to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Aaci Immigrants 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aaci Immigrants 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Aaci Immigrants 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 Finance & Accounting segment.

Loyalty marketing

– Aaci Immigrants 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.




Threats Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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. Aaci Immigrants needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Aaci Immigrants business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point, Aaci Immigrants may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .

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. Aaci Immigrants 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Aaci Immigrants 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point .

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.

Regulatory challenges

– Aaci Immigrants 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aaci Immigrants 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.

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. Aaci Immigrants can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Aaci Immigrants in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Aaci Immigrants 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Aaci Immigrants 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI): A Strategic Inflection Point 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 Aaci Immigrants needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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