Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion
Founded in 1989, Teach for America (TFA) was a nonprofit organization that placed highly qualified college graduates into 1,000 under-resourced urban and rural public schools across the country to teach for two years. The enthusiasm of the founding members inspired thousands of college graduates to take up the mission of eliminating educational inequalities throughout the country. Applicants for fall 2001 were twice what TFA had expected and applications for spring 2002 would be exceptionally high as well. Without drastic efforts to expand the number of placements, however, the organization would probably not be able to place all of the admitted applicants. Thus, the national office was asking many of its regions--and especially the Bay Area because of its popularity with applicants--to accommodate as many new corps members as possible. The Bay Area region placed its corps members into two local school districts and although relations with both were very positive, each district only held capacity to take approximately 40 corps members each year, for a total of 80 placements. Bay Area staff immediately realized that to grow up to 150 placements for the next year, they would need to expand the TFA program to a new school district. San Francisco Unified (SFUSD) seemed like a good candidate. SFUSD had recently hired a new superintendent (a long-time supporter of TFA) and served an incredibly diverse student population, much of which consisted of low-income, underprivileged children--exactly the kind of students TFA targeted. Expanding to SFUSD posed challenges as well and TFA Regional Staff had to determine the best option for quickly creating a large number of new placements.
Authors :: James A. Phills, Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, Erica Vaughan
Swot Analysis of "Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion" written by James A. Phills, Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, Erica Vaughan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tfa Placements facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Strategy execution and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tfa Placements, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tfa Placements 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tfa Placements
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 Tfa Placements
Strengths Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tfa Placements in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Tfa Placements is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Tfa Placements has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tfa Placements 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Tfa Placements
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tfa Placements does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tfa Placements in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Tfa Placements 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 James A. Phills, Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, Erica Vaughan 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tfa Placements 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tfa Placements 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tfa Placements has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tfa Placements has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tfa Placements is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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
– Tfa Placements 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 Tfa Placements in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Tfa Placements 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 Tfa Placements is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Tfa Placements 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, is just above the industry average. Tfa Placements 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.
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 Tfa Placements supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tfa Placements vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tfa Placements, firm in the HBR case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, it seems that the employees of Tfa Placements 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Phills, Debbie Choy, Justin McNabney, Erica Vaughan suggests that, Tfa Placements 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tfa Placements 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. Tfa Placements 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, Tfa Placements 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Tfa Placements products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Tfa Placements needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tfa Placements 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion | 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tfa Placements 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.
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. Tfa Placements 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. Tfa Placements 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tfa Placements can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tfa Placements operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Tfa Placements can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tfa Placements to increase its market reach. Tfa Placements 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.
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. Tfa Placements can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Tfa Placements 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Tfa Placements 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tfa Placements 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, Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tfa Placements 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 Tfa Placements 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tfa Placements 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 Tfa Placements to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tfa Placements 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.
Threats Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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. Tfa Placements can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tfa Placements is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Tfa Placements
– 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 Tfa Placements.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion, Tfa Placements 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Tfa Placements 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. Tfa Placements can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Tfa Placements business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Tfa Placements 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 Tfa Placements 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, Tfa Placements 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tfa Placements has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tfa Placements 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 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. Tfa Placements needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tfa Placements 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.
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 Tfa Placements.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion 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 Tfa Placements needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.