Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds
The Maddie's Fund case study focuses on the organization's collaborative philosophy and its system-level strategy of creating greater cohesiveness in the animal rescue movement that was fractured and had a history of "trashing and bashing." Unlike many other foundations, the Maddie's Fund has tried to create networks and collaboration across the animal welfare field as a whole with the goal of achieving a "no-kill nation" for American's companion animals (dogs and cats). The case protagonist is Rich Avanzino, largely regarded as the father of the no-kill movement and the case ends with him leaving the organization and the future of Maddie's Fund.
Swot Analysis of "Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds" written by Jane Wei-Skillern includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maddie's Kill facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Networking, Social enterprise, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maddie's Kill, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maddie's Kill
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 Maddie's Kill
Strengths Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maddie's Kill in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Maddie's Kill has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maddie's Kill 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.
Training and development
– Maddie's Kill has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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.
Analytics focus
– Maddie's Kill 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 Jane Wei-Skillern 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Maddie's Kill is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maddie's Kill 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
– Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Kill 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
– Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Maddie's Kill to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Maddie's Kill to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Maddie's Kill
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Kill 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Maddie's Kill is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Maddie's Kill is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Kill 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Maddie's Kill 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds, in the dynamic environment Maddie's Kill has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maddie's Kill has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maddie's Kill is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Maddie's Kill 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maddie's Kill 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 - Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Maddie's Kill is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Maddie's Kill needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Maddie's Kill to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Maddie's Kill 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. Maddie's Kill 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Maddie's Kill products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Maddie's Kill needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Maddie's Kill 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Maddie's Kill 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.
Opportunities Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds | 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds are -
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 Maddie's Kill in the consumer business. Now Maddie's Kill can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Maddie's Kill 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maddie's Kill 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Maddie's Kill can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Maddie's Kill 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.
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 Maddie's Kill 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Maddie's Kill can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Maddie's Kill 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Maddie's Kill 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, Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Maddie's Kill 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. Maddie's Kill 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Maddie's Kill is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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.
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. Maddie's Kill can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maddie's Kill to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Maddie's Kill 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Maddie's Kill 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Maddie's Kill 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Maddie's Kill 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Maddie's Kill with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maddie's Kill is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Maddie's Kill business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Maddie's Kill has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Maddie's Kill 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.
Environmental challenges
– Maddie's Kill 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. Maddie's Kill can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Maddie's Kill.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maddie's Kill 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds .
Increasing wage structure of Maddie's Kill
– 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 Maddie's Kill.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Fund: Building Community and Collaboration Against All Odds 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 Maddie's Kill needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.