Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy
A homeowner and his family finally have an offer on their residence. The terms negotiated with the buyers require the homeowner to build a detached garage on the property before the closing date on August 30, 2013, which is in 16 weeks. The homeowner's family has also made a conditional offer on another home, and the condition must be removed in two days if they would like to finalize that purchase. Although proficient at construction, the homeowner has encountered a major addition to his timeline on May 1. The city is requiring that he obtain a variance approval before the building department issues the building permit, thereby delaying the start of construction by between nine and ten weeks. The homeowner must decide whether to go ahead or cancel the sale of the residence and the purchase of a new home. Kenneth J. Klassen is affiliated with Brock University.
Swot Analysis of "Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy" written by Kenneth J. Klassen, Barry Riddell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Homeowner Residence facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Homeowner Residence, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Homeowner Residence
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 Homeowner Residence
Strengths Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Homeowner Residence in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Homeowner Residence has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Homeowner Residence to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Homeowner Residence to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Homeowner Residence 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Homeowner Residence has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Homeowner Residence 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Homeowner Residence is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Homeowner Residence digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Homeowner Residence 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Homeowner Residence 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 Kenneth J. Klassen, Barry Riddell 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
- Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Homeowner Residence
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Homeowner Residence does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, in the dynamic environment Homeowner Residence has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, is just above the industry average. Homeowner Residence 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy HBR case study mentions - Homeowner Residence 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Homeowner Residence 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Homeowner Residence, firm in the HBR case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Homeowner Residence 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. Homeowner Residence 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, it seems that the employees of Homeowner Residence 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Homeowner Residence 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Homeowner Residence 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Homeowner Residence 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.
Opportunities Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy | 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Homeowner Residence to increase its market reach. Homeowner Residence 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Homeowner Residence 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Homeowner Residence to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Homeowner Residence 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Homeowner Residence can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Homeowner Residence is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Homeowner Residence has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Homeowner Residence to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy case study. Homeowner Residence can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Homeowner Residence in the consumer business. Now Homeowner Residence can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Homeowner Residence 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Homeowner Residence 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, Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy are -
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 Homeowner Residence 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Homeowner Residence needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Homeowner Residence 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy .
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 Homeowner Residence.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Homeowner Residence has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Homeowner Residence 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy, Homeowner Residence may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Homeowner Residence 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 Homeowner Residence
– 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 Homeowner Residence.
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. Homeowner Residence 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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 Niagara Falls Construction Project: Scheduling, Resources, Costs and Bureaucracy 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 Homeowner Residence needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
