New Schools for New Orleans 2008 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of New Schools for New Orleans 2008
Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as a catalyst for the transformation of the public education system in New Orleans, President Sarah Usdin and CEO Matt Candler must adapt their strategy to respond to a continuously shifting local context. By 2008, conditions on the ground begin to stabilize, creating a new set of challenges in realizing the organization's vision to provide excellent public schools for every child in New Orleans.
Authors :: Stacey Childress, Scott Benson, Sarah Tudryn
Swot Analysis of "New Schools for New Orleans 2008" written by Stacey Childress, Scott Benson, Sarah Tudryn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Orleans Candler facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the New Schools for New Orleans 2008 casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of New Schools for New Orleans 2008
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Orleans Candler, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Orleans Candler 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Orleans Candler
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Orleans Candler
Strengths New Schools for New Orleans 2008 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Orleans Candler in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Orleans Candler is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Orleans Candler in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Orleans Candler has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Orleans Candler 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 - 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– New Schools for New Orleans 2008 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Orleans Candler to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Orleans Candler to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Orleans Candler digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Orleans Candler 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Orleans Candler is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the New Schools for New Orleans 2008 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Orleans Candler 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 Stacey Childress, Scott Benson, Sarah Tudryn 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.
Learning organization
- Orleans Candler 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 Orleans Candler is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in New Schools for New Orleans 2008 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Orleans Candler 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Orleans Candler has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Orleans Candler 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Orleans Candler in the sector have low bargaining power. New Schools for New Orleans 2008 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Orleans Candler to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses New Schools for New Orleans 2008 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of New Schools for New Orleans 2008 are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As New Schools for New Orleans 2008 HBR case study mentions - Orleans Candler 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008, in the dynamic environment Orleans Candler has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Orleans Candler has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Orleans Candler, firm in the HBR case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Orleans Candler 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. Orleans Candler 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Orleans Candler products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Orleans Candler needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Orleans Candler is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Orleans Candler needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Orleans Candler to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Orleans Candler needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 Orleans Candler has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 Orleans Candler 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Orleans Candler has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008, it seems that the employees of Orleans Candler 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.
Opportunities New Schools for New Orleans 2008 | 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Orleans Candler is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Orleans Candler can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Orleans Candler 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Orleans Candler 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Orleans Candler 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 Orleans Candler to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Orleans Candler 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. Orleans Candler 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Orleans Candler 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Orleans Candler to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Orleans Candler can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Orleans Candler can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Orleans Candler 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Orleans Candler to increase its market reach. Orleans Candler 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Orleans Candler can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Orleans Candler operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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 Orleans Candler in the consumer business. Now Orleans Candler can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats New Schools for New Orleans 2008 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008 are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Orleans Candler 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.
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 Orleans Candler.
Increasing wage structure of Orleans Candler
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Orleans Candler.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Orleans Candler 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study New Schools for New Orleans 2008, Orleans Candler may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Orleans Candler can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Orleans Candler has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Orleans Candler needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Regulatory challenges
– Orleans Candler needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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 Orleans Candler in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Orleans Candler 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Orleans Candler 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Orleans Candler is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 New Schools for New Orleans 2008 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 Orleans Candler needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.