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 - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lutherwood Coda in the sector have low bargaining power. Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lutherwood Coda to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lutherwood Coda 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Lutherwood Coda digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lutherwood Coda 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Lutherwood Coda 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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Lutherwood Coda is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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.
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.
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.
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 -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Lutherwood Coda has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of Lutherwood Coda products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Lutherwood Coda needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), it seems that the employees of Lutherwood Coda 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.
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood Coda has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) HBR case study mentions - Lutherwood Coda takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) 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 Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lutherwood Coda is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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. Lutherwood Coda can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lutherwood Coda can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lutherwood Coda operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lutherwood Coda 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, Lutherwood-CODA (Community Opportunities Development Association), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lutherwood Coda 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 Lutherwood Coda to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Lutherwood Coda 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. Lutherwood Coda 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.
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.
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 Lutherwood Coda in the consumer business. Now Lutherwood Coda can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lutherwood Coda is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Lutherwood Coda business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lutherwood Coda 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.
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) .
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lutherwood Coda has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lutherwood Coda needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Lutherwood Coda with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Lutherwood Coda
– 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 Lutherwood Coda.
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.