Case Study Description of Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association)
In early 2003, Reverend Doctor Dieter Kays, the CEO of Lutherwood-CODA, was reflecting on Luther Village, the Canadian nonprofit's bold, three-phase, 12-year, $75 million real estate project to develop a sprawling, high-end, 20-acre, 750-member retirement community in downtown Waterloo. With the first two phases of the project complete, Luther Village had accumulated $4.5 million of profit from construction. Phases I and II of Luther Village had sold out. At the time, Lutherwood-CODA had brought to market a new concept in elderly residential services. But Phase III, a $20 million assisted living center serving individuals with daily service and care needs, would be completed in a much more competitive market. Demand for the new facility was lower than it had been for Phases I and II. Moreover, Lutherwood had assumed substantial debt to finance Phase III. All of the equity generated during Phases I and II had been reinvested into Phase III. Kays knew that the organization's ability to service its obligations depended on being able to market and fill the new assisted living facility as quickly as possible. Could Lutherwood-CODA tolerate this new level of financial risk? Would market and economic conditions allow Phase III to execute its aggressive marketing program? Could the project really generate sufficient funds for Lutherwood-CODA's social programs? Was the development and operation of Luther Village consistent with Lutherwood's social mission?
Swot Analysis of "Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association)" written by James Phills, Dan Kalafatas includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lutherwood Coda facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Social enterprise and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lutherwood Coda, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lutherwood Coda
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 Lutherwood Coda
Strengths Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lutherwood Coda in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Lutherwood Coda is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Lutherwood Coda
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lutherwood Coda does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lutherwood Coda is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 brand equity
– Lutherwood Coda has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lutherwood Coda to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda 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
– Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lutherwood Coda to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lutherwood Coda to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lutherwood Coda in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lutherwood Coda is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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.
Analytics focus
– Lutherwood Coda 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 Phills, Dan Kalafatas 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.
Training and development
– Lutherwood Coda has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lutherwood Coda 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lutherwood Coda is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Lutherwood Coda needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lutherwood Coda to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), in the dynamic environment Lutherwood Coda has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lutherwood Coda has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lutherwood Coda, firm in the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), is just above the industry average. Lutherwood Coda 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Lutherwood Coda 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Lutherwood Coda has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood Coda 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Lutherwood Coda is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James Phills, Dan Kalafatas suggests that, Lutherwood Coda 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.
Opportunities Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) | 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) are -
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. Lutherwood Coda can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lutherwood Coda 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lutherwood Coda 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.
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 Lutherwood Coda 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lutherwood Coda to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lutherwood Coda can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lutherwood Coda is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lutherwood Coda to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) case study. Lutherwood Coda can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lutherwood Coda 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lutherwood Coda 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda to increase its market reach. Lutherwood Coda 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.
Threats Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Lutherwood Coda with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Lutherwood Coda 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. Lutherwood Coda can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lutherwood Coda demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High 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. Lutherwood Coda needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) .
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 Lutherwood Coda in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Lutherwood Coda 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), Lutherwood Coda 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lutherwood Coda 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.
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. Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda 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.
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.
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. Lutherwood Coda 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood Coda needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.