Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged)
This case is accompanied by a Video Short that can be shown in class or included in a digital coursepack. Instructors should consider the timing of making the video available to students, as it may reveal key case details.Describes Rob Waldron's actions upon assuming leadership of SCORE! Educational Centers, an after-school tutoring enterprise. Examines the issue of acquiring and growing a small, privately-owned company into a professional organization, especially regarding corporate culture. Describes the measures Waldron takes to build a culture and how he maintains the culture after the acquisition. Focuses on Waldron's actions in dealing with a growing employee morale problem. Concludes with Waldron deciding whether or not to alter the company's recruiting strategy. Includes SCORE! background material. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Swot Analysis of "Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged)" written by David A. Thomas, Stephanie Woerner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Waldron Score facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Growth strategy, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational culture, Succession planning, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Waldron Score, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Waldron Score 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Waldron Score
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 Waldron Score
Strengths Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Waldron Score in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Waldron Score 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 Waldron Score is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Waldron Score is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Waldron Score 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 Leadership & Managing People field
– Waldron Score 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 Waldron Score in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Waldron Score digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Waldron Score 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Waldron Score is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Waldron Score has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Waldron Score to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Waldron Score is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Waldron Score is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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.
Training and development
– Waldron Score has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Waldron Score in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Waldron Score
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Waldron Score does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Waldron Score products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Waldron Score needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Waldron Score 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Waldron Score is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Waldron Score needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Waldron Score to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged), in the dynamic environment Waldron Score has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Waldron Score has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged), is just above the industry average. Waldron Score 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged), it seems that the employees of Waldron Score 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Waldron Score 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Waldron Score, firm in the HBR case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Waldron Score has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Waldron Score is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Waldron Score 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) | 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Waldron Score 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Waldron Score to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Waldron Score 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. Waldron Score 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Waldron Score 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 Waldron Score to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Waldron Score can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Waldron Score 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Waldron Score is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Waldron Score 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Waldron Score can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Waldron Score operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Waldron Score to increase its market reach. Waldron Score 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Waldron Score 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Waldron Score 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Waldron Score 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, Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Waldron Score can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Waldron Score in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Waldron Score 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) .
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. Waldron Score 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.
Increasing wage structure of Waldron Score
– 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 Waldron Score.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged), Waldron Score 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Waldron Score 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Waldron Score 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.
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. Waldron Score needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Waldron Score.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Waldron Score 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.
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 Waldron Score business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Waldron Score 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged) 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 Waldron Score needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.