Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation
Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation" concerns the issues that a leading regional nonprofit housing company faced after its charismatic founder, Don Terner, tragically and unexpectedly died. It covers the difficulties faced by the incoming president, who had to preserve the memory of her predecessor while charting new courses for the company. The unusual circumstances illuminate the universal problems of leadership succession in successful businesses. In particular, the case explores the challenges posed created by the growth of an aggressive and entrepreneurial housing development firm with a strong sense of social purpose. Furthermore, the case reveals that a policy of continued growth opened up several alternatives for expanding business, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Swot Analysis of "Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation" written by Alexander Von Hoffman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Housing Bridge facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Housing Bridge, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Housing Bridge 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Housing Bridge
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 Housing Bridge
Strengths Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Housing Bridge in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Housing Bridge in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Housing Bridge to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Housing Bridge to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Housing Bridge 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 Housing Bridge is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Housing Bridge in the sector have low bargaining power. Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Housing Bridge to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Housing Bridge is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Housing Bridge has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Housing Bridge 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Housing Bridge 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Housing Bridge is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Housing Bridge 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Housing Bridge has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Housing Bridge is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Housing Bridge 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.
Weaknesses Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, in the dynamic environment Housing Bridge has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Housing Bridge has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Housing Bridge has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
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 Housing Bridge supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Housing Bridge vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Housing Bridge 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Housing Bridge 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 - Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Housing Bridge is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Housing Bridge 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, is just above the industry average. Housing Bridge 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Housing Bridge, firm in the HBR case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Housing Bridge 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Housing Bridge products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Housing Bridge needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation | 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation are -
Buying journey improvements
– Housing Bridge can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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.
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 Housing Bridge 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.
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 Housing Bridge in the consumer business. Now Housing Bridge can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Housing Bridge has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Housing Bridge to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation case study. Housing Bridge can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Housing Bridge is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Housing Bridge to increase its market reach. Housing Bridge 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Housing Bridge 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 Housing Bridge 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Housing Bridge can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Housing Bridge 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, Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Housing Bridge 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Housing Bridge to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Housing Bridge 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Housing Bridge 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.
Threats Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation are -
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Housing Bridge 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.
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 Housing Bridge in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Housing Bridge 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.
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. Housing Bridge 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Housing Bridge has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Housing Bridge 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Housing Bridge is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Housing Bridge 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, Housing Bridge 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 .
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 Housing Bridge business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Housing Bridge 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 Housing Bridge
– 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 Housing Bridge.
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. Housing Bridge can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Legacy, Transition, and Growth: The Case of BRIDGE Housing Corporation 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 Housing Bridge needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.