Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture
In March 2013, the chief executive development officer of the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) was preparing a report on the findings and recommendations of the organization's seven-year history. The HEDC, the economic development arm of the Heiltsuk Nation, was not meeting its goals. The HEDC structure was based on the theory that economic development success in Aboriginal communities required a separation of business from political influence. Unfortunately, the HEDC had yielded little economic success to date. Further, it was not clear whether it had effectively brought about the desired separation of economics from politics. Similar concerns were expressed by the chief councilor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, the political governance structure responsible for administering, governing, and setting policy for the Heiltsuk Nation. There was hope that the report would bring clarity to what had gone wrong in the development process under the HEDC. Was the governance structure appropriate for the task the HEDC was supposed to fulfill, or were the roles and responsibilities not clearly defined? What was causing the myriad of communication issues? What should be done? Stefanie Beninger is affiliated with Simon Fraser University.
Swot Analysis of "Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture" written by Julian Harrison, Stefanie Beninger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hedc Heiltsuk facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture casestudy better are - – technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hedc Heiltsuk, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hedc Heiltsuk
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 Hedc Heiltsuk
Strengths Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hedc Heiltsuk in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Hedc Heiltsuk is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hedc Heiltsuk in the sector have low bargaining power. Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hedc Heiltsuk to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hedc Heiltsuk has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Learning organization
- Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Hedc Heiltsuk is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Julian Harrison, Stefanie Beninger 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Hedc Heiltsuk is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hedc Heiltsuk is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hedc Heiltsuk digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hedc Heiltsuk in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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.
Weaknesses Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture are -
Need for greater diversity
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Julian Harrison, Stefanie Beninger suggests that, Hedc Heiltsuk is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Hedc Heiltsuk has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Hedc Heiltsuk supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hedc Heiltsuk vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Hedc Heiltsuk 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hedc Heiltsuk products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hedc Heiltsuk needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture, in the dynamic environment Hedc Heiltsuk has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Hedc Heiltsuk is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hedc Heiltsuk needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hedc Heiltsuk to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture | 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
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. Hedc Heiltsuk can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hedc Heiltsuk can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hedc Heiltsuk operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hedc Heiltsuk can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
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 Hedc Heiltsuk in the consumer business. Now Hedc Heiltsuk can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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. Hedc Heiltsuk 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. Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Hedc Heiltsuk to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture are -
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hedc Heiltsuk with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hedc Heiltsuk has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
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. Hedc Heiltsuk 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
– Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Hedc Heiltsuk.
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. Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
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. Hedc Heiltsuk 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 Hedc Heiltsuk 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Hedc Heiltsuk needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation: Balancing Politics, Business, and Culture 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 Hedc Heiltsuk needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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