Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A)
It is May 2007, and Jose Rodriguez has just won the election for mayor of Santa Barbara de Tapirin, a small town located at an oil area in Venezuela's mid-eastern region. Santa Barbara de Tapir'n is the capital of a scarcely populated municipality with abundant fiscal revenues coming largely from transfers made by the national government to communities in oil areas. The town is nevertheless a quiet, isolated place, with little economic activity, high unemployment, and unreliable public services with incomplete coverage. Despite this, in recent years, a large number of low-income immigrants have arrived in town, attracted by the oil economy, (illegally) seizing lands in Santa Barbara's outskirts. Jose Rodriguez wants to turn the town around, leading it out of its economic stagnation and guiding it to a path of greater prosperity and development. To this end, he has asked a team of advisors to help him gain a better understanding of the causes underlying Santa Barbara's stagnation and to formulate impactful solutions. This case describes a complex scenario so that students can explore a town's issues as viewed from the vantage point of a mayor, using standard techniques to analyze public policies. It also provides information that can be used in social investment project elaboration trials. IESA's case collection
Swot Analysis of "Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A)" written by Josefina F. Bruni-Celli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Santa Town facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, Policy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Santa Town, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Santa Town 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Santa Town
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 Santa Town
Strengths Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Santa Town in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Santa Town 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 Santa Town is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Santa Town is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Santa Town
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Santa Town does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Santa Town has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Santa Town 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) - 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
– Santa Town is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Santa Town has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Santa Town 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Santa Town to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Santa Town to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Santa Town 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Santa Town 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Santa Town 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Santa Town in the sector have low bargaining power. Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Santa Town to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Santa Town 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Josefina F. Bruni-Celli suggests that, Santa Town 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Santa Town is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Santa Town 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. Santa Town 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Santa Town is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Santa Town needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Santa Town to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Santa Town is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Santa Town, firm in the HBR case study Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Santa Town has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) HBR case study mentions - Santa Town 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Santa Town products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Santa Town needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A), it seems that the employees of Santa Town 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.
Opportunities Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) | 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Santa Town can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Santa Town operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Santa Town 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
– Santa Town 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
– Santa Town can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Santa Town is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Santa Town 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Santa Town 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Santa Town 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 Santa Town to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Santa Town 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Santa Town 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, Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Santa Town 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.
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. Santa Town can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Santa Town 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. Santa Town 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.
Threats Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Santa Town 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Santa Town 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.
Environmental challenges
– Santa Town 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. Santa Town can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Santa Town demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Santa Town 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Santa Town with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Santa Town 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 Santa Town 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.
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. Santa Town 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Santa Town is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Santa Town can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Santa Town in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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 Local Development Policy for Santa Barbara de Tapirin (A) 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 Santa Town needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.