Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkley, long known as one of the leading public universities in both the U.S. and the world, has seen turbulent times recently. While student enrollment and costs have increased steadily in recent years, the school, which has been fiercely proud of its public mission, received ever diminished funding from the State of California. Although Berkeley survived the financial crisis of 2008 under the leadership of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, new Chancellor Nicholas Dirks inherited an ongoing structural deficit and a divided faculty. New controversies arose over the process of strategic planning, the building of a "Global Campus" in neighboring Richmond Bay, and allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of faculty and administrators. Can Berkeley overcome these challenges and maintain its distinguished reputation with its current governance structure and status as a privately funded public university?
Swot Analysis of "Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley" written by William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Berkeley Chancellor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Crisis management, Diversity, Economy, Globalization, Growth strategy, Organizational structure, Social enterprise and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Berkeley Chancellor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Berkeley Chancellor 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Berkeley Chancellor
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 Berkeley Chancellor
Strengths Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Berkeley Chancellor in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Berkeley Chancellor is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Analytics focus
– Berkeley Chancellor 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 William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby 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.
Learning organization
- Berkeley Chancellor 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 Berkeley Chancellor is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Berkeley Chancellor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Berkeley Chancellor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Berkeley Chancellor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Berkeley Chancellor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Berkeley Chancellor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Berkeley Chancellor 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Berkeley Chancellor in the sector have low bargaining power. Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Berkeley Chancellor to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Berkeley Chancellor is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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.
Weaknesses Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley, 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.
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 Berkeley Chancellor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Berkeley Chancellor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Berkeley Chancellor 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 - Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley HBR case study mentions - Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Berkeley Chancellor is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Berkeley Chancellor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Berkeley Chancellor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Berkeley Chancellor to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Berkeley Chancellor has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Berkeley Chancellor is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Opportunities Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley | 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Berkeley Chancellor 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, Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Berkeley Chancellor 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.
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. Berkeley Chancellor 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. Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Berkeley Chancellor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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.
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 Berkeley Chancellor in the consumer business. Now Berkeley Chancellor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Berkeley Chancellor 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Berkeley Chancellor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Berkeley Chancellor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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.
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. Berkeley Chancellor can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Berkeley Chancellor needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Berkeley Chancellor 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
– Berkeley Chancellor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Berkeley Chancellor 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Berkeley Chancellor is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Berkeley Chancellor 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley .
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 Berkeley Chancellor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Berkeley Chancellor in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley Chancellor 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 .
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. Berkeley Chancellor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Berkeley Chancellor 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.
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.
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 Berkeley Chancellor.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley 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 Berkeley Chancellor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
