Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact
In June 2008, Jesse Solomon, the founding director of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), faced an important decision about the organization's strategic direction. Since its founding in 2003, 125 of its graduates had joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BTR had established a reputation as a provider of some of the district's best-prepared new teachers. Yet Solomon wondered if their approach so far was optimal going forward. Carol Johnson, the new superintendent for BPS, was developing a district-wide improvement strategy that prioritized accelerating the performance of the district's lowest performing schools. But, relatively few BTR graduates joined these schools - they were free to pursue teaching openings at any school in the district. Solomon knew the potential to partner more closely with the new superintendent was a time-sensitive opportunity with a number of questions. What were the implications of moving from an open hiring market to the placement of cohorts of BTR graduates in high-priority schools? Was BTR's model sufficient to prepare new teachers to join struggling schools in the absence of a comprehensive turnaround strategy? How could BTR continue to strengthen the quality of its program while supporting the new superintendent's priorities?
Authors :: Stacey Childress, Geoff Marietta, Sara Suchman
Swot Analysis of "Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact" written by Stacey Childress, Geoff Marietta, Sara Suchman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Btr Solomon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Hiring, Human resource management, Strategic planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Btr Solomon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Btr Solomon 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Btr Solomon
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 Btr Solomon
Strengths Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Btr Solomon in Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Btr Solomon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Btr Solomon 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
– Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Btr Solomon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Btr Solomon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Btr Solomon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Btr Solomon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Btr Solomon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Btr Solomon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Btr Solomon are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Btr Solomon is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Btr Solomon 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Btr Solomon 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Btr Solomon digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Btr Solomon 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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.
Organizational Resilience of Btr Solomon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Btr Solomon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Btr Solomon products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Btr Solomon 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 Btr Solomon, firm in the HBR case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Btr Solomon 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 - Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Btr Solomon is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Btr Solomon 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Btr Solomon 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 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 Btr Solomon supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Btr Solomon vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Btr Solomon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Btr Solomon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Btr Solomon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact, it seems that the employees of Btr Solomon 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Btr Solomon 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. Btr Solomon 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact, 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.
Opportunities Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact | 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Btr Solomon 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 Btr Solomon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Btr Solomon in the consumer business. Now Btr Solomon can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Btr Solomon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Btr Solomon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Btr Solomon 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 Btr Solomon 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Btr Solomon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Btr Solomon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact case study. Btr Solomon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Btr Solomon to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Btr Solomon 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Btr Solomon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Btr Solomon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Btr Solomon can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Btr Solomon 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. Btr Solomon 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Btr Solomon to increase its market reach. Btr Solomon 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Btr Solomon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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.
Threats Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Btr Solomon 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact, Btr Solomon 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 .
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. Btr Solomon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Btr Solomon 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.
Environmental challenges
– Btr Solomon 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. Btr Solomon 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. Btr Solomon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Btr Solomon is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 Btr Solomon in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Btr Solomon 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 Btr Solomon
– 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 Btr Solomon.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Btr Solomon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-Term Impact 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 Btr Solomon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
