It is February 2007, exactly three years before Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. Judy Rogers, City Manager for the City of Vancouver and a member of the Board of Directors for Vancouver's Organizing Committee (VANOC), is keen to ensure the Games will have a lasting positive impact on the city and on Canada. However, a recent event reveals that significant social tensions could negatively effect the event and Vancouver's image across the globe, and Rogers will have to find a way to address the growing concerns. More pressingly, Rogers and her team are faced with the task of creating an Olympic Legacy Reserve Fund that could enable the city to achieve its sustainability goals, but involves a significant tax increase for Vancouver's residents and businesses. With the world watching and the clock ticking, there is a lot at stake. How should Rogers respond to these challenges? Allows for an in-depth examination of critical social marketing issues in the context of one of the world's biggest sports events. Provides rich data on the possible benefits and drawbacks for a variety of constituents, including the International Olympic Committee, the host country and city, its businesses, and local residents, and can serve to illustrate the key tensions as well as best practices in social marketing initiatives.
Swot Analysis of "Vancouver 2010 Olympics" written by Anita Elberse, Catherine Anthony, Joshua Callahan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vancouver's Rogers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vancouver 2010 Olympics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing, Strategic planning and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vancouver 2010 Olympics casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vancouver 2010 Olympics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vancouver 2010 Olympics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vancouver's Rogers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vancouver 2010 Olympics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vancouver's Rogers
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 Vancouver's Rogers
Strengths Vancouver 2010 Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vancouver's Rogers in Vancouver 2010 Olympics Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Vancouver's Rogers in the sector have low bargaining power. Vancouver 2010 Olympics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Vancouver's Rogers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver's Rogers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver's Rogers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Vancouver 2010 Olympics Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Vancouver 2010 Olympics firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vancouver's Rogers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vancouver's Rogers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Vancouver's Rogers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vancouver's Rogers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Vancouver's Rogers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Vancouver 2010 Olympics Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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.
Organizational Resilience of Vancouver's Rogers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Vancouver's Rogers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Vancouver 2010 Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vancouver 2010 Olympics are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vancouver's Rogers, firm in the HBR case study Vancouver 2010 Olympics needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vancouver's Rogers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Vancouver's Rogers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vancouver's Rogers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Vancouver's Rogers is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver's Rogers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anita Elberse, Catherine Anthony, Joshua Callahan suggests that, Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Vancouver's Rogers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Vancouver's Rogers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Vancouver 2010 Olympics, it seems that the employees of Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Vancouver's Rogers 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. Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Vancouver's Rogers 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 - Vancouver 2010 Olympics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Vancouver 2010 Olympics HBR case study mentions - Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Opportunities Vancouver 2010 Olympics | 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics are -
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. Vancouver's Rogers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Vancouver's Rogers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Vancouver's Rogers 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. Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vancouver's Rogers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vancouver's Rogers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Vancouver's Rogers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vancouver's Rogers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vancouver's Rogers 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 Global Business segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Vancouver's Rogers can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Vancouver's Rogers 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.
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 Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Vancouver's Rogers can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Vancouver's Rogers 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, Vancouver 2010 Olympics, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Vancouver's Rogers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Vancouver 2010 Olympics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vancouver 2010 Olympics are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics .
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 Vancouver's Rogers.
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. Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Vancouver's Rogers can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vancouver's Rogers 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Vancouver's Rogers 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vancouver's Rogers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vancouver's Rogers 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.
Environmental challenges
– Vancouver's Rogers 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. Vancouver's Rogers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Vancouver's Rogers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vancouver's Rogers is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Vancouver's Rogers in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver 2010 Olympics 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 Vancouver's Rogers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
