Case Study Description of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?
In February 1996, more than 100 elderly people living alone in Hong Kong died because of an unexpected cold spell. Two public figures set up the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association to provide emergency assistance and related services to single elders in Hong Kong. Looks at the association's success as a social enterprise and how Timothy Ma, its executive director, is pondering whether the association should extend its scope of business to serving people other than elders.
Authors :: Gilbert Wong, Joseph Wong, Scarlet Chan, Shirley Chan
Swot Analysis of "Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?" written by Gilbert Wong, Joseph Wong, Scarlet Chan, Shirley Chan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Elders Association facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Social enterprise and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Elders Association, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Elders Association operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Elders Association
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Elders Association
Strengths Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Elders Association in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Elders Association 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Elders Association in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Elders Association is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Elders Association
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Elders Association does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Elders Association is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Elders Association to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Elders Association to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Elders Association has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Elders Association 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 Elders Association in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Elders Association has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Elders Association to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Elders Association is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Elders Association is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Diverse revenue streams
– Elders Association is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Elders Association has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, it seems that the employees of Elders Association 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Elders Association has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Elders Association 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. Elders Association 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Elders Association products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Elders Association needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Elders Association is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Elders Association, firm in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Elders Association is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Elders Association supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Elders Association vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? 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 Elders Association has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Elders Association to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Elders Association to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Elders Association 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. Elders Association 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Elders Association can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Elders Association 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, Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Elders Association in the consumer business. Now Elders Association can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Elders Association can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Elders Association operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Elders Association 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Elders Association 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Elders Association 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Elders Association can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Elders Association to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Elders Association 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Elders Association has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Elders Association to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? case study. Elders Association can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Elders Association with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Elders Association 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.
Environmental challenges
– Elders Association needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Elders Association can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Elders Association will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Elders Association needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Elders Association
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Elders Association.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Elders Association high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
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 Elders Association business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Elders Association is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Elders Association can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Elders Association in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Elders Association can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services?, Elders Association 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Going Beyond Elderly Services? is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Elders Association needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
