6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan
This case describes how community leaders in Amman, Jordan used a community organizing framework to launch and manage a major campaign, 6 Minutes, to encourage residents to commit time to reading for pleasure. Using Marshall Ganz's framework for building civic leadership capacity, a local service organization, Ruwwad, based in the urban Amman community of Jabal Al Natheef, organized and coached hundreds of participants, encountering many challenges and milestones along the way-from cultural obstacles to community celebrations. Even before the 6 Minutes campaign concluded, the organizers were eager to launch a new campaign, noting that the success of 6 Minutes laid a firm foundation for the next campaign, building leadership, organizing power and capacity. At the end of the case, the protagonists question how to best apply the learning from 6 Minutes to their next campaign.
Authors :: Marshall Ganz, Laura Winig, Rawan Zeine
Swot Analysis of "6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan" written by Marshall Ganz, Laura Winig, Rawan Zeine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Minutes Amman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Gender, Leadership, Leadership development, Leading teams and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Minutes Amman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Minutes Amman 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Minutes Amman
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 Minutes Amman
Strengths 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Minutes Amman in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Minutes Amman 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 Minutes Amman is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Minutes Amman 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 recruit top talent
– Minutes Amman is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Minutes Amman has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Minutes Amman 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Minutes Amman 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Minutes Amman digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Minutes Amman 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.
Training and development
– Minutes Amman has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Minutes Amman 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 Minutes Amman in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Minutes Amman
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Minutes Amman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Minutes Amman has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Minutes Amman in the sector have low bargaining power. 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Minutes Amman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Minutes Amman is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Minutes Amman needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Minutes Amman 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan, it seems that the employees of Minutes Amman 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Minutes Amman is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Minutes Amman 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. Minutes Amman 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Minutes Amman 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Minutes Amman 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Minutes Amman 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Minutes Amman is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 Minutes Amman has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Minutes Amman 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 - 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan HBR case study mentions - Minutes Amman 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.
Opportunities 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan | 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Minutes Amman 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Minutes Amman 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 Minutes Amman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Minutes Amman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Minutes Amman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan case study. Minutes Amman can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Minutes Amman 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Minutes Amman can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Minutes Amman operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Minutes Amman 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Minutes Amman 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Minutes Amman 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, 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Minutes Amman 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.
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. Minutes Amman 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. Minutes Amman 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. Minutes Amman can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Minutes Amman 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Minutes Amman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Minutes Amman with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Minutes Amman can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Minutes Amman 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.
Environmental challenges
– Minutes Amman 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. Minutes Amman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Minutes Amman in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Minutes Amman needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan, Minutes Amman 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Minutes Amman 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Minutes Amman demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Minutes Amman 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan .
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 Minutes Amman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Minutes Amman
– 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 Minutes Amman.
Regulatory challenges
– Minutes Amman 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 6 Minutes: Community Organizing in Amman, Jordan 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 Minutes Amman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
