William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia
Demand for low-cost housing after World War II far exceeded supply. Was this a profitable new market? New York developer William Levitt had to decide. During World War II, Levitt was eager to build basic housing for the working class--otherwise, Levitt & Sons would have been idle due to the federal government ban on all nonessential construction, like the luxury homes that Levitt & Sons typically built on Long Island, New York. Under a contract with the U.S. Navy, Levitt & Sons erected 2,000 homes in a year's time, an effort that gave Levitt & Sons the opportunity to perfect rapid home construction techniques. Levitt had to decide if he would apply those techniques to meet the post-war housing demand. Levitt & Sons had the manufacturing know-how. Would sizable profits follow? Levitt needed to understand the implications of the home improvement loans and mortgages the government guaranteed to returning servicemen as part of their veterans benefits. Levitt had the opportunity to parlay his own World War II experience as a Navy Seabee to market these homes by appealing to the sentiments of veterans like himself who were eager to return home and settle down after the fighting stopped. Levitt's decision would have profound social, economic, and political impact on the lives of returning veterans, their spouses, and their children--the Baby Boomers.
Authors :: Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson
Swot Analysis of "William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia" written by Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Levitt Sons facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Generational issues, Government, Growth strategy, Leadership, Marketing, Product development and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing,
increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Levitt Sons, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Levitt Sons 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Levitt Sons
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 Levitt Sons
Strengths William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Levitt Sons in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Levitt Sons is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Levitt Sons 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Levitt Sons in the sector have low bargaining power. William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Levitt Sons to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Levitt Sons 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Levitt Sons 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Levitt Sons is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Levitt Sons has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Levitt Sons to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Levitt Sons 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 Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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.
Learning organization
- Levitt Sons 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 Levitt Sons is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Levitt Sons
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Levitt Sons does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Levitt Sons to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Levitt Sons to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia are -
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 Levitt Sons supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Levitt Sons vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia, it seems that the employees of Levitt Sons 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 Levitt Sons 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 Levitt Sons has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia, is just above the industry average. Levitt Sons 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Levitt Sons 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 - William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Levitt Sons is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Levitt Sons 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson suggests that, Levitt Sons 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Levitt Sons 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 Levitt Sons products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Levitt Sons needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia | 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Levitt Sons 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Levitt Sons to increase its market reach. Levitt Sons 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Levitt Sons 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Levitt Sons 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Levitt Sons 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Levitt Sons to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Levitt Sons can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Levitt Sons can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Levitt Sons is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 Levitt Sons in the consumer business. Now Levitt Sons can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Levitt Sons 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Levitt Sons 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 Levitt Sons to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Levitt Sons can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Levitt Sons operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Levitt Sons 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.
Threats William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia, Levitt Sons 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Levitt Sons 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Levitt Sons 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia .
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. Levitt Sons needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Levitt Sons has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Levitt Sons 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.
Environmental challenges
– Levitt Sons 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. Levitt Sons can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Levitt Sons 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.
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 Levitt Sons.
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. Levitt Sons can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Levitt Sons
– 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 Levitt Sons.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Levitt Sons 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.
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 Levitt Sons in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia 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 Levitt Sons needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.