The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD
Established in the late 1960s, Interplast was the first international humanitarian organization to send American medical professionals overseas to provide free reconstructive surgery to children and adults in developing countries. Over the next 30 years, Interplast grew from an informal volunteer-led effort into a professional organization. By 2000, Interplast had over 2500 volunteers, had sponsored trips to 30 countries, and performed over 3000 surgeries each year. This videocase details the growth of Interplast and the debates that arose as the organization began to shift its focus from direct service (sending surgeons and other medical professionals overseas provide reconstructive surgery) to education, (investing in training foreign doctors) and empowerment (providing resources and infrastructure) so that these local professionals could serve their own population. The videocase chronicles the debate over this shift as well as related policy decisions, raising issues of organizational evolution, strategic change, and nonprofit governance. SI-14v The Evolution of Interplast is part of The Social Entrepreneurship Series. Professor Jim Phills developed The Social Entrepreneurship Series to help students appreciate mechanisms of change and theories of action as well as challenges in initiating and sustaining meaningful change in social sectors. Other video cases in this series include SI-25v Innermotion on the Move, SI-69v Circus Oz, SI-72v Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failures, and SI-77v Rubicon Program's Corporate Strategy.
Swot Analysis of "The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD" written by James A. Phills includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Interplast Si facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Corporate governance, Emerging markets and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Interplast Si, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Interplast Si 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Interplast Si
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 Interplast Si
Strengths The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Interplast Si in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Interplast Si digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Interplast Si 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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.
High brand equity
– Interplast Si has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Interplast Si to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Interplast Si is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Interplast Si in the sector have low bargaining power. The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Interplast Si to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Interplast Si has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Interplast Si 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
– Interplast Si 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 Interplast Si in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Interplast Si has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Interplast Si 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Interplast Si is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Interplast Si is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Interplast Si 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 James A. Phills 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.
Weaknesses The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Interplast Si products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Interplast Si needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD, is just above the industry average. Interplast Si 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Interplast Si 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Interplast Si has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Interplast Si has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Interplast Si even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Interplast Si 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 - The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 Interplast Si has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD, in the dynamic environment Interplast Si has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Interplast Si has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Phills suggests that, Interplast Si 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Interplast Si, firm in the HBR case study The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Interplast Si is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD | 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Interplast Si 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Interplast Si 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Interplast Si 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Interplast Si can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Interplast Si 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.
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 Interplast Si 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Interplast Si 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Interplast Si is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Interplast Si has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Interplast Si to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD case study. Interplast Si can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Interplast Si 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 Interplast Si to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Interplast Si 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, The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Interplast Si 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. Interplast Si 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Interplast Si 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.
Threats The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD are -
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. Interplast Si can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Interplast Si 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Interplast Si 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.
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 Interplast Si.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Interplast Si 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD .
Increasing wage structure of Interplast Si
– 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 Interplast Si.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Interplast Si 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Interplast Si has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Interplast Si 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.
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. Interplast Si needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Interplast Si is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Interplast Si in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Interplast Si 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. Interplast Si can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 The Evolution of Interplast, (Video) DVD 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 Interplast Si needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
