Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?
Following the largest state takeover of a local public school district in U.S. history, a new governing body must find a CEO to effect a large-scale turnaround in the Philadelphia school district. This case examines the context of large urban public schools and explores the educational and general management challenges facing leaders at the senior management and governing levels. Covers issues such as the politicization of urban school boards, school finance, nontraditional candidates for superintendencies, privatization and educational management organizations, improvement of educational outcomes, state-mandated testing, and stakeholder management.
Swot Analysis of "Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?" written by Stig Leschly, Stacey Childress, Purnima Kochikar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that School District facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Reorganization, Social enterprise and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the School District, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which School District 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of School District
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 School District
Strengths Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of School District in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– School District has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. School District 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.
Analytics focus
– School District 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 Stig Leschly, Stacey Childress, Purnima Kochikar 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of School District in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– School District is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of School District in the sector have low bargaining power. Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps School District to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– School District has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– School District 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– School District has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– School District 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 School District in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled School District to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped School District to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- School District 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 School District is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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.
Weaknesses Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, School District 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of School District products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, School District needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as School District is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?, is just above the industry average. School District 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?, it seems that the employees of School District 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? HBR case study mentions - School District 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stig Leschly, Stacey Childress, Purnima Kochikar suggests that, School District 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
School District 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though School District has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 School District 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– School District 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.
Opportunities Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? | 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, School District is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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.
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 School District in the consumer business. Now School District can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects School District can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, School District can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that School District operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– School District can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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, School District 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, Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?, 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, School District 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.
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 School District 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.
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. School District can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. School District can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– School District 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help School District to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at School District 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.
Buying journey improvements
– School District can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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.
Threats Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? are -
Increasing wage structure of School District
– 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 School District.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, School District 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. School District can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for School District in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– School District has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, School District 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents School District with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– School District 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. School District can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 School District.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– School District 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that School District is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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 School District business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior? 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 School District needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.