Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the not-for-profit sector in Ontario was forced to shift from a provider of social needs to a creator of social opportunities for communities doubly hit by rising unemployment and falling social supports. The Ontario Trillium Foundation moved to fund innovative, collaborative programs involving not-for-profit organizations, businesses and governments in creating viable social enterprises. Ottawa, London and Sarnia were three communities faced with different, but still difficult economic times, and each had responded to the crisis by proposing alternative models of social transition. In 2013, representatives from the not-for-profit sector in these cities joined with the Richard Ivey School of Business to present a proposal that promised they would work collaboratively, learn from each other, document the entire process and develop tools to prepare and guide many others. Would the Trillium Foundation support such a creative and ambitious project?
Authors :: Oana Branzei, Marlene J. Le Ber, Patrick Shulist
Swot Analysis of "Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada" written by Oana Branzei, Marlene J. Le Ber, Patrick Shulist includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trillium Social facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Recession, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trillium Social, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trillium Social 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trillium Social
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 Trillium Social
Strengths Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trillium Social in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Trillium Social 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 Trillium Social in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Trillium Social 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada - 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
– Trillium Social has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Trillium Social is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Trillium Social are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Trillium Social is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Trillium Social 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
– Trillium Social has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Trillium Social 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Trillium Social digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Trillium Social 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Trillium Social 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Trillium Social to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Trillium Social to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Trillium Social 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.
Weaknesses Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Trillium Social has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Trillium Social 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Trillium Social 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Trillium Social is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Trillium Social needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Trillium Social to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Trillium Social supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Trillium Social vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Trillium Social is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Trillium Social has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Trillium Social products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Trillium Social needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Trillium Social 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Trillium Social 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada, it seems that the employees of Trillium Social 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada | 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Trillium Social to increase its market reach. Trillium Social 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trillium Social can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Trillium Social 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Trillium Social in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trillium Social 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.
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. Trillium Social can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Trillium Social 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Trillium Social has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Trillium Social to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada case study. Trillium Social can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Trillium Social 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Trillium Social can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Trillium Social operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Trillium Social in the consumer business. Now Trillium Social can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Trillium Social can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Trillium Social 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, Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada are -
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. Trillium Social needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Trillium Social 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.
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 Trillium Social business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Trillium Social 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trillium Social with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Trillium Social 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Trillium Social 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. Trillium Social can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Trillium Social has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Trillium Social 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.
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. Trillium Social can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada, Trillium Social 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 Trillium Social is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Trillium Social
– 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 Trillium Social.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities: Ontario, Canada 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 Trillium Social needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.