WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause
On a mission to give "hope, chance and choice" to underprivileged students, Erwin Huang started the social enterprise WebOrganic to sell quality computers and internet services to students at below-market prices. In its first year of operation, the company had already served more than 7,000 low-income families, and had expanded from being a technology distributor to becoming a provider of a full-fledged service surrounding online learning. Now entering its second year, WebOrganic continues to face resistance from parents and educators in e-learning adoption as it introduces tablet computers to its product mix. This case is about creating a blue ocean in the overlapping zones of the computer and internet services retail market and a growing e-learning market. It explores ideas pertaining to the design and execution of a blue ocean strategy; including such topics such value innovation, the four actions framework and tipping point leadership. The case also touches on concepts of strategic relationship management and social entrepreneurship.
Swot Analysis of "WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause" written by Penny Lau, Julie Hung-Hsua Yu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Weborganic Ocean facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Social enterprise, Supply chain and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Weborganic Ocean, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Weborganic Ocean 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Weborganic Ocean
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 Weborganic Ocean
Strengths WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Weborganic Ocean in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Weborganic Ocean is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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
– Weborganic Ocean is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Weborganic Ocean 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 Penny Lau, Julie Hung-Hsua Yu 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.
Training and development
– Weborganic Ocean has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Weborganic Ocean 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 Weborganic Ocean in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Weborganic Ocean 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.
Learning organization
- Weborganic Ocean 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 Weborganic Ocean is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Weborganic Ocean digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Weborganic Ocean 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Weborganic Ocean in the sector have low bargaining power. WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Weborganic Ocean to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Weborganic Ocean 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Weborganic Ocean to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Weborganic Ocean to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Weborganic Ocean in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Weborganic Ocean, firm in the HBR case study WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause, it seems that the employees of Weborganic Ocean 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 Weborganic Ocean 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Weborganic Ocean products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Weborganic Ocean needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Weborganic Ocean 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Weborganic Ocean 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Penny Lau, Julie Hung-Hsua Yu suggests that, Weborganic Ocean is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Weborganic Ocean 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Weborganic Ocean 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Weborganic Ocean is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Weborganic Ocean needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Weborganic Ocean to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause HBR case study mentions - Weborganic Ocean 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.
Opportunities WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause | 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Weborganic Ocean can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Weborganic Ocean has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Weborganic Ocean to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause case study. Weborganic Ocean can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Weborganic Ocean can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Weborganic Ocean 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.
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 Weborganic Ocean 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Weborganic Ocean 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 Weborganic Ocean to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Weborganic Ocean to increase its market reach. Weborganic Ocean 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Weborganic Ocean 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Weborganic Ocean 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, Weborganic Ocean 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Weborganic Ocean 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.
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. Weborganic Ocean can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Weborganic Ocean to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Manufacturing automation
– Weborganic Ocean 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause are -
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. Weborganic Ocean can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Weborganic Ocean.
Increasing wage structure of Weborganic Ocean
– 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 Weborganic Ocean.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Weborganic Ocean 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.
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.
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 Weborganic Ocean in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Weborganic Ocean 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Weborganic Ocean has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Weborganic Ocean 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause, Weborganic Ocean 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 .
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. Weborganic Ocean needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Weborganic Ocean 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.
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 Weborganic Ocean business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 WebOrganic: Creating a Blue Ocean for a Social Cause 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 Weborganic Ocean needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.