TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product
In May 2013, Jack Russo, a Chicago-based tech entrepreneur, had to choose one of four possible product concepts to use as the starting point for his new K-8 educational learning company, TabletTeach LLC. At the time, the K-12 education market in the United States was experiencing major disruption due to print-to-digital transformation, new Common Core State Standards (CCSS), new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core (rolling out in most states in the 2014-2015 school year), and increasing pressure from parents for schools to incorporate technology in their children's learning. Based on his first-hand experience and research, Russo knew there was a significant opportunity for a company that brought to market a tablet-enabled learning solution focusing on grades K-8, which made learning Common Core math and/or language arts fun for every student and engagingly simple for all teachers. This case provides an interesting example of something typically hard to teach: transitioning from the fuzzy front end of a market opportunity analysis to a specific product opportunity. The case bounds the problem by outlining four potential product concepts, which students will then evaluate and rank using their own sets of criteria.
Swot Analysis of "TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product" written by Mohanbir Sawhney, John Miniati includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Russo Tabletteach facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Product development and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Russo Tabletteach, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Russo Tabletteach
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 Russo Tabletteach
Strengths TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Russo Tabletteach in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Russo Tabletteach is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Russo Tabletteach 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 Russo Tabletteach in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Russo Tabletteach to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Russo Tabletteach to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 brand equity
– Russo Tabletteach has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Russo Tabletteach to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Russo Tabletteach has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Russo Tabletteach 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.
Analytics focus
– Russo Tabletteach 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 Mohanbir Sawhney, John Miniati 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Russo Tabletteach is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Russo Tabletteach is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Russo Tabletteach is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 Russo Tabletteach 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, Russo Tabletteach is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Russo Tabletteach 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product, in the dynamic environment Russo Tabletteach has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Russo Tabletteach has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Russo Tabletteach 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. Russo Tabletteach 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 Russo Tabletteach '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 Russo Tabletteach supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Russo Tabletteach vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Russo Tabletteach 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.
Opportunities TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product | 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Russo Tabletteach 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 Russo Tabletteach to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Russo Tabletteach 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Russo Tabletteach can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Russo Tabletteach can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Russo Tabletteach to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Russo Tabletteach 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. Russo Tabletteach 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Russo Tabletteach 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, Russo Tabletteach 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.
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 Russo Tabletteach in the consumer business. Now Russo Tabletteach can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Russo Tabletteach can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Russo Tabletteach 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, TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Russo Tabletteach 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Russo Tabletteach to increase its market reach. Russo Tabletteach 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.
Threats TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product are -
Regulatory challenges
– Russo Tabletteach 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.
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 Russo Tabletteach 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. Russo Tabletteach needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Russo Tabletteach has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Russo Tabletteach 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Russo Tabletteach 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. Russo Tabletteach 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 Russo Tabletteach
– 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 Russo Tabletteach.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Russo Tabletteach demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Russo Tabletteach 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product .
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.
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 Russo Tabletteach business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Russo Tabletteach is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Russo Tabletteach 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 TabletTeach: Opportunity Analysis for a New Educational Technology Product 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 Russo Tabletteach needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
