Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth
Me to We was a Canadian social enterprise created in 2008 to provide a stable source of funds to finance Free the Children, a non-profit organization that partnered with villages in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to provide clean water, sanitation, health care, food security, and alternative income in exchange for the commitment that all village children would attend school. The ultimate aim was to reduce child labour and exploitation, which was rooted in families who were living in poverty and unable to support themselves. In 2015, as Me to We continued to grow, the co-founders realized that its product portfolio could benefit from items that would increase the frequency of the organization's contact and interactions with customers. Should Me to We move towards the fast consumables market to reach as many people as possible?
Authors :: W. Glenn Rowe, Jayme McColl, Helen Y. He
Swot Analysis of "Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth" written by W. Glenn Rowe, Jayme McColl, Helen Y. He includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Children Consumables facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Children Consumables, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Children Consumables 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Children Consumables
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 Children Consumables
Strengths Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Children Consumables in Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Children Consumables in the sector have low bargaining power. Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Children Consumables to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Children Consumables is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Children Consumables 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Children Consumables 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Children Consumables in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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.
Training and development
– Children Consumables has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Children Consumables 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Children Consumables 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 Children Consumables in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Children Consumables to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Children Consumables to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Children Consumables has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Children Consumables to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Children Consumables is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth, it seems that the employees of Children Consumables 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Children Consumables is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Children Consumables 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, Children Consumables 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Children Consumables has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, W. Glenn Rowe, Jayme McColl, Helen Y. He suggests that, Children Consumables 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth HBR case study mentions - Children Consumables 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth, is just above the industry average. Children Consumables 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Children Consumables 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Children Consumables 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 - Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth, in the dynamic environment Children Consumables has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Children Consumables has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth | 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Children Consumables can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Children Consumables is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Children Consumables 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Children Consumables to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Children Consumables can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Children Consumables 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Children Consumables has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Children Consumables to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth case study. Children Consumables can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Children Consumables 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 Children Consumables 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. Children Consumables can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Children Consumables 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Children Consumables 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Children Consumables 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Children Consumables can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Children Consumables can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Children Consumables operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Children Consumables with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Children Consumables
– 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 Children Consumables.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Children Consumables 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth, Children Consumables 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Children Consumables 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth .
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. Children Consumables 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Children Consumables 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Children Consumables 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.
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 Children Consumables in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Children Consumables 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Children Consumables is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Children Consumables needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Children Consumables can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Me to We: A Social Enterprise and Its Future Growth 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 Children Consumables needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
