Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD
When important social problems are not solved or social needs go unmet due to neglect or inaction in the private sector, even though the technological, financial, and human means exist to address these problems or needs, economists call this a "market failure." This videocase details the efforts of three "social entrepreneurs" who brought innovative ideas, used entrepreneurial skills, and leveraged market principles to "correct" these market failures. It also highlights one important difference between them and traditional entrepreneurs-they prioritized social impact over the wealth creation. By emphasizing social returns, these "social entrepreneurs" have been serving the needs of poor, disadvantaged, and neglected communities. The entrepreneurs showcased are: (1) Jim Fruchterman, Benetech, who created technology-based projects such as reading machines for the blind; (2) David Green, Project Impact, who developed an innovative approach to manufacturing low-cost, high-quality medical supplies to treat and prevent blindness and deafness in the developing world; (3) Victoria Hale, OneWorld Health, who worked to develop new medicines for infectious diseases that killed millions of people in the poorest parts of the world. The three discuss how they launched their organizations and how their alternative "business models" work. The videocase includes supplemental sections on the challenge of product distribution and their reflections on the experience of being a social entrepreneur.
Authors :: James Phills
Topics :: Global Business
Tags :: Innovation, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD" written by James Phills includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Social Entrepreneurs facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Social Entrepreneurs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Social Entrepreneurs
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Social Entrepreneurs
Strengths Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Social Entrepreneurs in Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Social Entrepreneurs has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Social Entrepreneurs 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
– Social Entrepreneurs has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Social Entrepreneurs to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Social Entrepreneurs is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Social Entrepreneurs is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Social Entrepreneurs 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 James Phills 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.
Organizational Resilience of Social Entrepreneurs
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Social Entrepreneurs does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Social Entrepreneurs is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Social Entrepreneurs in the sector have low bargaining power. Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Social Entrepreneurs to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Social Entrepreneurs is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Social Entrepreneurs needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Social Entrepreneurs to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD, is just above the industry average. Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Social Entrepreneurs is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD, in the dynamic environment Social Entrepreneurs has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Social Entrepreneurs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD HBR case study mentions - Social Entrepreneurs 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Social Entrepreneurs 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. Social Entrepreneurs 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Social Entrepreneurs 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 - Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD | 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Social Entrepreneurs is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Social Entrepreneurs can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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.
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 Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Social Entrepreneurs in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Social Entrepreneurs 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, Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Social Entrepreneurs 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.
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. Social Entrepreneurs can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Social Entrepreneurs 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 Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Threats Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD, Social Entrepreneurs may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Social Entrepreneurs is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Social Entrepreneurs in the Global Business industry. The Global Business industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Social Entrepreneurs 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Social Entrepreneurs 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Social Entrepreneurs 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Social Entrepreneurs has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Social Entrepreneurs needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Social Entrepreneurs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Social Entrepreneurs.
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. Social Entrepreneurs needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failure (Video) DVD 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 Social Entrepreneurs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.