Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook
This case study of social innovation and entrepreneurship looks closely at the growth of a not-for-profit enterprise. Dans la rue was founded in 1988 when a "rebel priest," Father Emmett Johns, bought a used van and started going into the streets of Montreal to help youth at risk directly - hence, the name of the organization, French for "in the street." In over 25 years, the organization has grown steadily; in 2013, it operated in three locations with 65 employees and over 100 volunteers. Elements of this case are common to any start-up organization: over time, it grows, learns, acquires legitimacy, and becomes increasingly professionalized. But there are also unique elements to Dans la rue: a vulnerable clientele, certain unsettling realities (drugs, theft, prostitution, etc.), and the need to be involved with yet remain distant from government agencies and funding sources. This case takes a detailed look at how the organization's executives have met the challenges of balancing the needs of street youth with the concerns of private donors and government agencies while keeping Dans la rue sustainable.
Swot Analysis of "Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook" written by Brian King, Wendy Reid includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dans Rue facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, Social responsibility, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dans Rue, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dans Rue 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dans Rue
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 Dans Rue
Strengths Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dans Rue in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Dans Rue has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Dans Rue 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dans Rue 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Dans Rue
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dans Rue does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Dans Rue has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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.
Analytics focus
– Dans Rue 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 Brian King, Wendy Reid 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Dans Rue 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 Dans Rue in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dans Rue digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dans Rue 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dans Rue 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dans Rue in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Dans Rue is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Dans Rue 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 Dans Rue is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dans Rue is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook HBR case study mentions - Dans Rue 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans Rue 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook, in the dynamic environment Dans Rue has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dans Rue has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dans Rue is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Dans Rue needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dans Rue to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dans Rue needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dans Rue products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dans Rue needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Dans Rue supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dans Rue vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Dans Rue 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dans Rue 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. Dans Rue 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 Dans Rue 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 - Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook | 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook are -
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 Dans Rue in the consumer business. Now Dans Rue can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Dans Rue can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Dans Rue 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dans Rue has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dans Rue to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook case study. Dans Rue can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dans Rue 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dans Rue 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dans Rue to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dans Rue 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. Dans Rue can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dans Rue 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dans Rue can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Dans Rue 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. Dans Rue 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.
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. Dans Rue can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Dans Rue 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.
Threats Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook are -
Environmental challenges
– Dans Rue 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. Dans Rue can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook, Dans Rue 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dans Rue 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 Dans Rue
– 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 Dans Rue.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dans Rue 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.
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 Dans Rue.
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 Dans Rue business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dans Rue 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dans Rue 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook .
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 Dans Rue in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Dans Rue can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dans Rue is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans la rue: Balancing the Heart and the Pocketbook 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 Dans Rue needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.