Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide
Garrett Moran joined Year Up (a workforce development program) in late 2013. Tasked with systematizing and scaling operations, Moran spearheaded a number of changes that allowed Year Up to serve 3,000 youth in 2016 up from 1,800 youth annually when he started. While preparing for the future, he expected that Year Up would soon have the ability to serve 10,000 students annually by 2021. This goal would demand a pace of growth that YU had not yet experienced - increasing annual growth from an already accelerated 400 students per year over the past three years to an average of 1,000 students per year through 2021. The path forward was complicated and this case covers the challenges and opportunities of reaching scale by expanding their direct service program and exploring other ways to close the opportunity gap.
Swot Analysis of "Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Emma Franking includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Moran Garrett facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Moran Garrett, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Moran Garrett 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Moran Garrett
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 Moran Garrett
Strengths Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Moran Garrett in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Moran Garrett 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Moran Garrett to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Moran Garrett to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Moran Garrett 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Emma Franking 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.
High brand equity
– Moran Garrett has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Moran Garrett to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Moran Garrett is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Moran Garrett in the sector have low bargaining power. Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Moran Garrett to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Moran Garrett 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Moran Garrett has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Moran Garrett in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Moran Garrett 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 Moran Garrett is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Moran Garrett is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Moran Garrett 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 Moran Garrett in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Moran Garrett products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Moran Garrett needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Moran Garrett, firm in the HBR case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Moran Garrett is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Moran Garrett 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 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 Moran Garrett supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Moran Garrett vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Moran Garrett 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide, is just above the industry average. Moran Garrett 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Moran Garrett is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Moran Garrett needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Moran Garrett to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Moran Garrett 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Moran Garrett 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide, 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide | 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Moran Garrett is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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
– Moran Garrett 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Moran Garrett 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Moran Garrett to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Moran Garrett can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Moran Garrett 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Moran Garrett 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Moran Garrett can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Moran Garrett 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Moran Garrett 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Moran Garrett 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Moran Garrett 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, Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Moran Garrett 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. Moran Garrett 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Moran Garrett 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.
Threats Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide are -
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. Moran Garrett needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Moran Garrett.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Moran Garrett 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Moran Garrett has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Moran Garrett 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Moran Garrett with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Moran Garrett 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.
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. Moran Garrett can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Moran Garrett
– 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 Moran Garrett.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Moran Garrett 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Moran Garrett 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide .
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 Moran Garrett in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Moran Garrett 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Garrett Moran and Scaling Year Up to Close the Opportunity Divide 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 Moran Garrett needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.