Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil
Beatriz Cardoso, founder of LaboratA?rio de EducaA?A?o (Education Laboratory) had a dream to propel Brazilian education. However challenges in fundraising made it difficult to scale up her project, based on helping adults help children improve their literacy skills. To succeed in her goals, Cardoso had to build partnerships, raise funds, and expand the reach of LaboratA?rio de EducaA?A?o.
Swot Analysis of "Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Daniella Suarez, Ai-Ling Jamila Malone includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cardoso Beatriz facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Generational issues, Leadership, Marketing, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cardoso Beatriz, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cardoso Beatriz 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cardoso Beatriz
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 Cardoso Beatriz
Strengths Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cardoso Beatriz in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Cardoso Beatriz 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 Cardoso Beatriz in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Cardoso Beatriz is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cardoso Beatriz 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Cardoso Beatriz has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cardoso Beatriz is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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
– Cardoso Beatriz has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cardoso Beatriz to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Cardoso Beatriz is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Cardoso Beatriz
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cardoso Beatriz does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cardoso Beatriz 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
– Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cardoso Beatriz to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cardoso Beatriz to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cardoso Beatriz is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil, it seems that the employees of Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cardoso Beatriz 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. Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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 Cardoso Beatriz supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cardoso Beatriz vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cardoso Beatriz is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cardoso Beatriz 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 - Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cardoso Beatriz products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cardoso Beatriz needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cardoso Beatriz is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Cardoso Beatriz needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cardoso Beatriz to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cardoso Beatriz 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil HBR case study mentions - Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Opportunities Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil | 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cardoso Beatriz 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cardoso Beatriz to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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. Cardoso Beatriz 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. Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cardoso Beatriz can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cardoso Beatriz operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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. Cardoso Beatriz can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Cardoso Beatriz can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cardoso Beatriz 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, Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cardoso Beatriz has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cardoso Beatriz to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil case study. Cardoso Beatriz can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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 Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Threats Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cardoso Beatriz 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 wage structure of Cardoso Beatriz
– 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 Cardoso Beatriz.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil, Cardoso Beatriz 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 .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cardoso Beatriz 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil .
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 Cardoso Beatriz in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Cardoso Beatriz business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Cardoso Beatriz needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cardoso Beatriz 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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. Cardoso Beatriz 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.
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. Cardoso Beatriz can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Beatriz Cardoso and Education in Brazil 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 Cardoso Beatriz needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.