GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar
In 2007 a group of eight friends wanted to give. With so many charities out there, the friends wanted to know which ones were doing the most good. They had two basic questions: (1) what did the charitable organization do with donors' money and (2) what evidence existed that charity's activities were helping people? After conducting an exhaustive search, the group concluded that useful information to answer their questions was not publically available. Collecting the answers would be a considerable amount of work. Realizing that other individual donors might like to have the same information, the group created GiveWell, a nonprofit dedicated to doing that work and sharing all of its information publically. The organization aimed to bring greater transparency and a focus on demonstrated cost effectiveness to the world of philanthropy. Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, two of the friends, left their jobs to purse GiveWell full time. This case covers the history of GiveWell and the evolution of its research methodology and philosophy for identifying outstanding charities. It highlights the skepticism with which GiveWell's recommendation of GiveDirectly was met as well as GiveWell's close collaboration with the philanthropic foundation Good Ventures. With GiveWell's research approach well established, Karnofsky and Hassenfeld's priorities for 2013 were to grow both capacity and new opportunities: adding people to the GiveWell team, a challenge given its quick to evolve culture, and developing GiveWell Labs, a unique and promising arm of its research process.
Swot Analysis of "GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar" written by William Meehan, Davina Drabkin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Givewell Givewell's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Joint ventures, Performance measurement, Transparency and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Givewell Givewell's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Givewell Givewell's
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 Givewell Givewell's
Strengths GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Givewell Givewell's in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Givewell Givewell's 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 Givewell Givewell's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Givewell Givewell's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Givewell Givewell's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Givewell Givewell's 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.
High brand equity
– Givewell Givewell's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Givewell Givewell's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Givewell Givewell's in the sector have low bargaining power. GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Givewell Givewell's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Givewell Givewell's 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Givewell Givewell's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Givewell Givewell's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Givewell Givewell's 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 Givewell Givewell's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar are -
Need for greater diversity
– Givewell Givewell's 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 Givewell Givewell's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Givewell Givewell's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Givewell Givewell's 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 - GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Givewell Givewell's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Givewell Givewell's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Givewell Givewell's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Givewell Givewell's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Givewell Givewell's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Givewell Givewell's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Givewell Givewell's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar HBR case study mentions - Givewell Givewell's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Givewell Givewell's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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
Givewell Givewell's 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar, in the dynamic environment Givewell Givewell's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Givewell Givewell's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar | 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar are -
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. Givewell Givewell's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Givewell Givewell's 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, Givewell Givewell's 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, GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Givewell Givewell's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Givewell Givewell's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Givewell Givewell's to increase its market reach. Givewell Givewell's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Givewell Givewell's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Givewell Givewell's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Givewell Givewell's 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 Givewell Givewell's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Givewell Givewell's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Givewell Givewell's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar case study. Givewell Givewell's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Givewell Givewell's 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.
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. Givewell Givewell's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Givewell Givewell's in the consumer business. Now Givewell Givewell's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Givewell Givewell's 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. Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Givewell Givewell's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Givewell Givewell's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Givewell Givewell's
– 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 Givewell Givewell's.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Givewell Givewell's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Givewell Givewell's 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Givewell Givewell's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Givewell Givewell's.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Givewell Givewell's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Givewell Givewell's 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.
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. Givewell Givewell's 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. Givewell Givewell's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Givewell Givewell's 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. Givewell Givewell's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Givewell Givewell's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 GiveWell: Real Change For Your Dollar 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 Givewell Givewell's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
