Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project
This case is based on an ex post assessment conducted in Peru. The circumstances surrounding this evaluation were very restrictive: a limited budget as well as lacking base line and adequate monitoring system. The evaluation was requested at the endof the project, with the evaluators having no control over the information gathered earlier; however, they tried to use the best methodological options available to assess the program. Suddenly, an opportunity presents itself for the evaluators to recommend a better assessment methodology for the second stage in this program and even to suggest some adjustments for its original program design. A special feature in this case is that students do not start from scratch: they have information about what happened in the first stage of the project, and they can use it to build, amidst a new setting, a sounder, more ambitious evaluation procedure for the second stage, before its launching. The social and economic effects/impact of the project's first stage were measured with a non-experimental method, without a control group. For their evaluation work, the consultants relied on two surveys administered to a group of selected women's organizations that had received micro-loans. The first survey focused on the progress made by business ventures funded with these loans, and the second one probed the social impact of the project on members' households. Against the described backdrop, in the first stage, the evaluators used the perceptions of the people involved in the project to gather information on their earlier situation. The second stage evaluation would have a more adequate assessment design and would be submitted with recommendations for project execution improvements. To this end, consultants would have to submit their technical plan and the budget required to successfully meet assessment expectations. Universidad del PacA?fico' case collection
Swot Analysis of "Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project" written by Arlette Beltran, Betty Alvarado, Hanny Cueva includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Evaluators Stage facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Evaluators Stage, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Evaluators Stage 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Evaluators Stage
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 Evaluators Stage
Strengths Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Evaluators Stage in Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Evaluators Stage to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Evaluators Stage to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Evaluators Stage 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Evaluators Stage 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project - 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
– Evaluators Stage has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Evaluators Stage to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Evaluators Stage 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 Arlette Beltran, Betty Alvarado, Hanny Cueva 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Evaluators Stage is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Evaluators Stage is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Evaluators Stage digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Evaluators Stage has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Innovation driven organization
– Evaluators Stage is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Evaluators Stage 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Evaluators Stage in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Evaluators Stage is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Evaluators Stage needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Evaluators Stage to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Evaluators Stage 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Evaluators Stage has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Evaluators Stage even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Evaluators Stage has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Evaluators Stage is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project, is just above the industry average. Evaluators Stage 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Evaluators Stage 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.
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 Evaluators Stage supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Evaluators Stage vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Evaluators Stage needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Evaluators Stage 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project, it seems that the employees of Evaluators Stage don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project | 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project are -
Manufacturing automation
– Evaluators Stage 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Evaluators Stage can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Evaluators Stage 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
– Evaluators Stage 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, Evaluators Stage 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Evaluators Stage to increase its market reach. Evaluators Stage will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Evaluators Stage can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Evaluators Stage operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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. Evaluators Stage 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. Evaluators Stage 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Evaluators Stage is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Evaluators Stage can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Evaluators Stage 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.
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 Evaluators Stage 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.
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. Evaluators Stage can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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. Evaluators Stage 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Evaluators Stage 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Evaluators Stage 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Evaluators Stage 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 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. Evaluators Stage needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Evaluators Stage in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Evaluators Stage has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Evaluators Stage 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.
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 Evaluators Stage business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project, Evaluators Stage may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Evaluators Stage 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Evaluators Stage 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.
Increasing wage structure of Evaluators Stage
– 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 Evaluators Stage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Credit for Women's Microenterprises: Assessing a Social Project 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 Evaluators Stage needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
