Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A)
When teachers at a Madison, Wisconsin elementary school announce plans to mount a photo exhibit featuring families with gay or lesbian parents, school system superintendent Cheryl Wilhoyte faces a vexing decision. She knows well that the exhibit will be controversial and will likely offend members of the community, especially a group of conservative Christian parents. She knows, too, that liberal teachers will view the issue as one involving academic freedom, keyed to the school's system's "anti-bias" curriculum. In this leadership case, the superintendent must decide, in effect, whether and/or how to decide. Should this be a school-level decision? Or does it demand her own intervention? She must even decide on what grounds she should base her decide about whether to become involved. The case is useful for discussions of leadership in a decentralized environment, as well as issues of how authorities must deal with cultural conflict in a public sector context. HKS Case Number 1440.0
Swot Analysis of "Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A)" written by Susan Rosegrant includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Exhibit Gay facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Demographics, Diversity, Government, Leadership, Personnel policies, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Exhibit Gay, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Exhibit Gay 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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Exhibit Gay
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Exhibit Gay
Strengths Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Exhibit Gay in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) 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
– Exhibit Gay is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Exhibit Gay in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Exhibit Gay has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Exhibit Gay 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Exhibit Gay to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Exhibit Gay to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Exhibit Gay 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 Exhibit Gay is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Exhibit Gay 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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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.
Organizational Resilience of Exhibit Gay
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Exhibit Gay does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Exhibit Gay in the sector have low bargaining power. Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Exhibit Gay to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Exhibit Gay has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Exhibit Gay to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Exhibit Gay 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 Exhibit Gay in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Exhibit Gay is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), in the dynamic environment Exhibit Gay has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Exhibit Gay has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Exhibit Gay 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Exhibit Gay is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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.
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 Exhibit Gay supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Exhibit Gay vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Exhibit Gay is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Exhibit Gay needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Exhibit Gay to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) 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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Exhibit Gay is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), is just above the industry average. Exhibit Gay 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Susan Rosegrant suggests that, Exhibit Gay 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Exhibit Gay products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Exhibit Gay needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Exhibit Gay 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. Exhibit Gay 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), it seems that the employees of Exhibit Gay 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.
Opportunities Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Exhibit Gay 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Exhibit Gay 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.
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. Exhibit Gay can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Exhibit Gay to increase its market reach. Exhibit Gay 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.
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 Exhibit Gay 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Exhibit Gay can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Exhibit Gay can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Exhibit Gay in the consumer business. Now Exhibit Gay can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Exhibit Gay has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Exhibit Gay to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) case study. Exhibit Gay can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Exhibit Gay 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Exhibit Gay 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Exhibit Gay 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, Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Exhibit Gay 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. Exhibit Gay 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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) are -
Increasing wage structure of Exhibit Gay
– 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 Exhibit Gay.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Exhibit Gay 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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (A), Exhibit Gay may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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.
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 Exhibit Gay in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Exhibit Gay in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Exhibit Gay business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Exhibit Gay 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Exhibit Gay has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Exhibit Gay needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Exhibit Gay.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Exhibit Gay is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Exhibit Gay 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.
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. Exhibit Gay will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Deciding Who Decides: The Debate Over a Gay Photo Exhibit in a Madison School (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 Exhibit Gay needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
