Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A)
Paula Evans is in her second year as principal of the only high school in Cambridge, MA. Her mandate when she arrived was to redesign the high school so that long-standing inequities in academic achievement rates across race and socioeconomic class were removed. In her first year, she succeeded in obtaining approval for her proposed redesign and completing the physical and administrative restructuring of the high school. Now in her second year, the reforms in how teachers teach and how the school operates are fully under way. From early indications, she and her hand-picked leadership team are moving the school in the desired direction. But the school committee has just made a policy decision that Evans and her team believe will undo all of the redesign efforts that have been made thus far. Evans has threatened to resign and now ponders what she will tell her leadership team and the faculty the next day.
Authors :: Linda A. Hill, Kristin C. Doughty, Ellen Pruyne
Swot Analysis of "Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A)" written by Linda A. Hill, Kristin C. Doughty, Ellen Pruyne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Evans School facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, Leadership, Reorganization and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Evans School, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Evans School 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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Evans School
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 Evans School
Strengths Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Evans School in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Evans School 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Evans School is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Evans School 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 Evans School in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Evans School
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Evans School does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Evans School 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 Evans School is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Evans School 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 Linda A. Hill, Kristin C. Doughty, Ellen Pruyne 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.
Training and development
– Evans School has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Evans School 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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Evans School has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Evans School to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Evans School is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Evans School digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Evans School has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Evans School 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.
Weaknesses Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A), is just above the industry average. Evans School needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Evans School is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Evans School 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 - Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) HBR case study mentions - Evans School 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Evans School 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. Evans School 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Linda A. Hill, Kristin C. Doughty, Ellen Pruyne suggests that, Evans School 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Evans School products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Evans School needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Evans School, firm in the HBR case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Evans School 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A), 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A), in the dynamic environment Evans School has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Evans School has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Evans School 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 Evans School to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Evans School 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.
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. Evans School can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Evans School 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
– Evans School 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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Evans School to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Evans School to increase its market reach. Evans School 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Evans School can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Evans School can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Evans School operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Evans School 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Evans School 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
– Evans School 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.
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. Evans School 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. Evans School 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Evans School has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Evans School to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) case study. Evans School can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Evans School 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Evans School has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Evans School 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.
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 Evans School in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Evans School 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 wage structure of Evans School
– 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 Evans School.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Evans School 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.
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. Evans School will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Evans School 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.
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. Evans School can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Evans School 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Evans School with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Evans School business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (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 Evans School needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.