The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration
The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund case study captures the story of the 20-year history of the Memorial Fund, with particular emphasis on how the organization catalyzed networks and collaboration under the leadership of prior Executive Director, David Nee. Under Nee's leadership, the Memorial Fund has emphasized engaging the broad community, catalyzing policy change, and supporting networks and collaboration within and across sectors with the idea that improving outcomes for children involved many stakeholders working towards a common vision and agenda. The case study ends when Nee retired from the organization in March 2014 and a new leader, R. David Addams stepped in as the new Executive Director and with Nee hoping that Addams and the organization would perpetuate the legacy of community engagement and collaboration, as well as promote the values that he and his team of ten staff and eight board members had worked so hard for so long to establish.
Authors :: Jane Wei-Skillern
Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Tags :: Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration" written by Jane Wei-Skillern includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nee Memorial facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nee Memorial, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nee Memorial 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nee Memorial
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 Nee Memorial
Strengths The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nee Memorial in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nee Memorial 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Nee Memorial 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 Nee Memorial in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Nee Memorial 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 Nee Memorial is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Nee Memorial 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 Jane Wei-Skillern 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.
Training and development
– Nee Memorial has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nee Memorial to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nee Memorial to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nee Memorial in the sector have low bargaining power. The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nee Memorial to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nee Memorial 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Nee Memorial has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nee Memorial to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nee Memorial is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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.
Organizational Resilience of Nee Memorial
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nee Memorial does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nee Memorial in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nee Memorial, firm in the HBR case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration, is just above the industry average. Nee Memorial 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nee Memorial products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nee Memorial needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Nee Memorial 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nee Memorial has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nee Memorial has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nee Memorial 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nee Memorial is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nee Memorial is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nee Memorial is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Nee Memorial needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nee Memorial to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration | 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Nee Memorial 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nee Memorial has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nee Memorial to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration case study. Nee Memorial can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nee Memorial 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nee Memorial is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nee Memorial to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nee Memorial 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 Nee Memorial to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nee Memorial 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 Nee Memorial can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Nee Memorial can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Nee Memorial 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.
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. Nee Memorial can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nee Memorial 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nee Memorial to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Nee Memorial in the consumer business. Now Nee Memorial can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration are -
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nee Memorial 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nee Memorial 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nee Memorial is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Nee Memorial can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nee Memorial has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nee Memorial 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nee Memorial 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nee Memorial in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nee Memorial 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.
Increasing wage structure of Nee Memorial
– 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 Nee Memorial.
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. Nee Memorial needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Nee Memorial 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. Nee Memorial can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Nee Memorial 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund: Catalyzing Networks and Collaboration 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 Nee Memorial needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.