Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize
In 1992, Help the World See (HTWS), a U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to improving eye care in developing countries, established permanent, self-sustaining eye care clinics in Belize in conjunction with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI). The HTWS/BCVI program trained and outfitted five Regional Field Officers (RFO) to identify basic eye diseases, provide education, and sell low-cost eyeglasses. By 1996, the program had become a significant part of Belize's eye care system and was approaching the break-even point. However, the program's success had placed it in jeopardy. Belize's ophthalmologists, who had assented to the program in 1992, were concerned about the low-fee competition. They had prevailed on the Medical Council, the body charged with overseeing medical practices within the country, to send two letters to the BCVI, pointing out that only licensed optometrists and ophthalmologists could prescribe eyeglasses and perform eye exams. If enforced against the HTWS/BCVI RFOs, the rule would cripple the program. The case opens with HTWS's president Jeff Orenstein and founder Dr. Wayne Cannon preparing for a meeting with the Belizean Ministry of Health.
Authors :: J. Gregory Dees, Jeffrey Orenstein, Jaan Elias
Swot Analysis of "Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize" written by J. Gregory Dees, Jeffrey Orenstein, Jaan Elias includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bcvi Eye facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Social enterprise and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bcvi Eye, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bcvi Eye
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 Bcvi Eye
Strengths Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bcvi Eye in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize - 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bcvi Eye 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 lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Bcvi Eye 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 Bcvi Eye in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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
– Bcvi Eye has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bcvi Eye 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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
– Bcvi Eye is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Bcvi Eye
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bcvi Eye does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Bcvi Eye is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Bcvi Eye has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bcvi Eye to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Bcvi Eye 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 Bcvi Eye is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Bcvi Eye 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 J. Gregory Dees, Jeffrey Orenstein, Jaan Elias 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.
Weaknesses Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Bcvi Eye products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bcvi Eye needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bcvi Eye 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bcvi Eye is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize, in the dynamic environment Bcvi Eye has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bcvi Eye has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bcvi Eye 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Bcvi Eye 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bcvi Eye 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Bcvi Eye has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bcvi Eye 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 - Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize, is just above the industry average. Bcvi Eye 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.
Opportunities Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize | 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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. Bcvi Eye can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bcvi Eye in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bcvi Eye 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.
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. Bcvi Eye 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. Bcvi Eye 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bcvi Eye 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 Bcvi Eye to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Bcvi Eye can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bcvi Eye to increase its market reach. Bcvi Eye 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bcvi Eye 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bcvi Eye 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bcvi Eye to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bcvi Eye can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bcvi Eye 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, Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bcvi Eye can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bcvi Eye operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Threats Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bcvi Eye 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Bcvi Eye business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bcvi Eye is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bcvi Eye 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Bcvi Eye 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. Bcvi Eye can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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. Bcvi Eye needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bcvi Eye with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Bcvi Eye.
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 Bcvi Eye in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bcvi Eye 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.
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. Bcvi Eye can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Bcvi Eye 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Help the World See: Self-Sustaining Eye Care in Belize 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 Bcvi Eye needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
