Case Study Description of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?
In February 1996, more than 100 elderly people living alone in Hong Kong died because of an unexpected cold spell. Two public figures set up the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association to provide emergency assistance and related services to single elders in Hong Kong. Looks at the association's success as a social enterprise and how Timothy Ma, its executive director, is pondering whether the association should extend its scope of business to serving people other than elders.
Authors :: Gilbert Wong, Joseph Wong, Scarlet Chan, Shirley Chan
Swot Analysis of "Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?" written by Gilbert Wong, Joseph Wong, Scarlet Chan, Shirley Chan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Elders Association facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Social enterprise and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Elders Association, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Elders Association 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Elders Association
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 Elders Association
Strengths Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Elders Association in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Elders Association 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 Elders Association is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Elders Association 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 Gilbert Wong, Joseph Wong, Scarlet Chan, Shirley Chan 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Elders Association is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Elders Association 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Elders Association in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Elders Association
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Elders Association does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Elders Association has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Elders Association to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Elders Association 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Elders Association 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Elders Association to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Elders Association to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Elders Association is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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.
Weaknesses Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Elders Association 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Elders Association 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Elders Association 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Elders Association supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Elders Association vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Elders Association, firm in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, in the dynamic environment Elders Association has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Elders Association has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Elders Association 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Elders Association 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Elders Association is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? HBR case study mentions - Elders Association 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, 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.
Opportunities Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
Buying journey improvements
– Elders Association can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Elders Association 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 Elders Association to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Elders Association 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Elders Association to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Elders Association 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Elders Association has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Elders Association to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study. Elders Association can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Elders Association can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Elders Association in the consumer business. Now Elders Association can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Elders Association 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Elders Association 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Elders Association can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Elders Association operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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 Elders Association 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Elders Association 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Elders Association is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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.
Threats Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
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. Elders Association 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Elders Association 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Elders Association 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Elders Association 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.
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 Elders Association in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Elders Association needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Elders Association 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. Elders Association can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Elders Association.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Elders Association 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Elders Association is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Elders Association 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Elders Association with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Elders Association
– 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 Elders Association.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Elders Association needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.