Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School
In this executive leadership case, the activist superintendent of Virginia's affluent Fairfax County public school district, Daniel A. Domenech, is faced with a complex, politically-loaded policy dilemma. At issue is admissions policy for the county's popular and prestigious magnet high school, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). TJ is so highly sought-after that only one in six applicants is accepted. The case is set in 2001. In the past 16 years, the admissions policy at TJ has made a pendulum swing: heavy reliance on a single standardized exam in 1985; the addition of an affirmative action program in 1990; the elimination of that program in 1998, in the face of political pressure and anxiety over a "reverse discrimination" law suit. As the case opens, TJ is fast losing diversity. The liberal-leaning School Board has instructed Domenech to come up with a way to restore that diversity, but without sacrificing the school's strong academic reputation or making the school system legally vulnerable. After painstaking effort, Domenech and his administrative team have come up with a plan that aims at geographic diversity within the county, rather than racial and ethnic diversity per se. But, faced with an angry reaction from parents from the "overrepresented" neighborhoods, the Board has quickly backed away from the plan. That leaves Domenech back at square one, trying to find a solution that will broaden the range of students at Jefferson in a way that is fair, effective, and legally safe-but also politically palatable.
Swot Analysis of "Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School" written by Pete Zimmerman, Pamela Varley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Domenech Tj facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Diversity and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Domenech Tj, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Domenech Tj 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Domenech Tj
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 Domenech Tj
Strengths Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Domenech Tj in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Domenech Tj is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Domenech Tj is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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.
Analytics focus
– Domenech Tj 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 Pete Zimmerman, Pamela Varley 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Domenech Tj has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Domenech Tj 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Domenech Tj 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Domenech Tj 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Domenech Tj 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Domenech Tj has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Domenech Tj to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Domenech Tj is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Domenech Tj
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Domenech Tj does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Domenech Tj 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 Domenech Tj in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Domenech Tj is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Domenech Tj is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School, it seems that the employees of Domenech Tj 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Domenech Tj has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pete Zimmerman, Pamela Varley suggests that, Domenech Tj 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Domenech Tj 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School, in the dynamic environment Domenech Tj has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Domenech Tj has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Domenech Tj supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Domenech Tj vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Domenech Tj 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Domenech Tj 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School | 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Domenech Tj 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.
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. Domenech Tj 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. Domenech Tj 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.
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. Domenech Tj can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Domenech Tj has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Domenech Tj to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School case study. Domenech Tj can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Domenech Tj can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Domenech Tj 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Domenech Tj to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Domenech Tj can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Domenech Tj is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Domenech Tj to increase its market reach. Domenech Tj 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Domenech Tj 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 Domenech Tj to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Domenech Tj 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Domenech Tj 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Domenech Tj 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.
Threats Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School are -
Increasing wage structure of Domenech Tj
– 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 Domenech Tj.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Domenech Tj 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Domenech Tj 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.
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 Domenech Tj business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Domenech Tj 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. Domenech Tj can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Domenech Tj can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Domenech Tj with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Domenech Tj.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Domenech Tj 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School .
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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School, Domenech Tj 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Domenech Tj has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Domenech Tj 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Values in Conflict: The Furor over Admissions Policy at a Popular Virginia Magnet School 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 Domenech Tj needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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