Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A)
As a Harvard University freshman in 1992, Eric Dawson began working on a social service project known as Peace Games, a one-day festival to teach school-age children about peace and cooperation. Dawson, however, had bigger ideas for the program. Operating first within Harvard, and later through the independent nonprofit that he founded, Dawson transformed Peace Games from a simple celebration of community into a kindergarten-8th grade, year-long conflict-resolution curriculum that he hoped to implement in schools across the country. As challenging and as critical as the program design itself, however, was the need to create, fund, and manage an organization capable of carrying the project forward. This case tells the story of how Dawson developed Peace Games in the Boston area; established a Peace Games outpost beyond Massachusetts; and attempted to launch a major nationwide expansion deemed essential not only to reach significant numbers of children and communities, but to attract the funding the organization needed to survive. HKS Case Number 1795.0
Authors :: Susan Rosengrant, Herman B. Leonard
Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Tags :: Entrepreneurship, International business, Leadership, Social responsibility, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A)" written by Susan Rosengrant, Herman B. Leonard includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Peace Dawson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, International business, Leadership, Social responsibility, Strategic planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Peace Dawson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Peace Dawson 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Peace Dawson
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 Peace Dawson
Strengths Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Peace Dawson in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Peace Dawson
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Peace Dawson does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Peace Dawson has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Peace Dawson to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Peace Dawson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Peace Dawson digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Peace Dawson 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 Peace Dawson in the sector have low bargaining power. Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Peace Dawson to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Peace Dawson 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 Peace Dawson is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Peace Dawson is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Peace Dawson to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Peace Dawson to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Peace Dawson 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Peace Dawson 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Peace Dawson is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Peace Dawson 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.
Weaknesses Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Peace Dawson 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Peace Dawson 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Peace Dawson has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Peace Dawson is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Peace Dawson 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) HBR case study mentions - Peace Dawson 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.
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 Peace Dawson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Peace Dawson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Dawson 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A), is just above the industry average. Peace Dawson 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A), 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Peace Dawson is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Peace Dawson needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Peace Dawson to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) | 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) are -
Loyalty marketing
– Peace Dawson 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.
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. Peace Dawson can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Peace Dawson 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Peace Dawson 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Peace Dawson to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Peace Dawson 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.
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 Peace Dawson 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Peace Dawson 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Peace Dawson is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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.
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. Peace Dawson can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Peace Dawson 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Peace Dawson 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 Peace Dawson to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Peace Dawson can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Peace Dawson 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. Peace Dawson 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. Peace Dawson 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.
Threats Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) are -
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 Peace Dawson 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, Peace Dawson 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Peace Dawson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Peace Dawson 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.
Increasing wage structure of Peace Dawson
– 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 Peace Dawson.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Peace Dawson 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Peace Dawson 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.
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.
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. Peace Dawson 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Peace Dawson with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Peace Dawson 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A), Peace Dawson 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 .
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 Peace Dawson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Peace Dawson can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Games: A Non-Profit's Journey from Birth to National Expansion (A) 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 Peace Dawson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
