DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture
Established in 1971, DePaul Industries was a social venture operated as one organization (and for short called DePaul Industries) but legally registered as two 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organizations (DePaul Industries and DePaul Services). DePaul's mission was to generate employment opportunities for people with disabilities. DePaul operated in three industries that shared three characteristics: they were employment intensive, had paper-thin margins, and were cash-thirsty. DePaul derived most of the funds to finance its operations from revenue from these businesses but had yet to turn a profit. In the past, banks had been willing to provide DePaul with financing (mortgages, credit lines, and factoring loans), but it had always been challenging and it appeared to be increasingly so. Dave Shaffer, DePaul's CEO, had begun to explore other options, namely social investors, but with little success so far. Considering DePaul's increasing difficulties to identify suitable financing, Shaffer had begun wondering whether these difficulties were, as in the past, rooted in financiers' lack of understanding and sympathy towards DePaul's social venture nature or whether there was something else-the eroding of DePaul's net assets connected with recent business losses (largely derived from its contract packaging business).
Authors :: Silvia Dorado, Emmanuel ER Raufflet, Dave Shaffer
Swot Analysis of "DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture" written by Silvia Dorado, Emmanuel ER Raufflet, Dave Shaffer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Depaul Depaul's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Social enterprise and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Depaul Depaul's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Depaul Depaul's
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 Depaul Depaul's
Strengths DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Depaul Depaul's in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Depaul Depaul's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Depaul Depaul's 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 Depaul Depaul's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Depaul Depaul's 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.
Training and development
– Depaul Depaul's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Depaul Depaul's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Depaul Depaul's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Depaul Depaul's 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Depaul Depaul's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Depaul Depaul's 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.
Analytics focus
– Depaul Depaul's 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 Silvia Dorado, Emmanuel ER Raufflet, Dave Shaffer 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Depaul Depaul's in the sector have low bargaining power. DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Depaul Depaul's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Depaul Depaul's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture, is just above the industry average. Depaul Depaul's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture HBR case study mentions - Depaul Depaul's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Depaul Depaul's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Depaul Depaul's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 Depaul Depaul's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Depaul Depaul's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Depaul Depaul's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Silvia Dorado, Emmanuel ER Raufflet, Dave Shaffer suggests that, Depaul Depaul's is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Depaul Depaul's 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. Depaul Depaul's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Depaul Depaul's 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 - DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture | 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Depaul Depaul's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Depaul Depaul's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Depaul Depaul's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Depaul Depaul's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Depaul Depaul's 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 Depaul Depaul's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Depaul Depaul's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Depaul Depaul's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Depaul Depaul's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Depaul Depaul's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Depaul Depaul's 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, DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture, 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
– Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Depaul Depaul's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Depaul Depaul's 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.
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. Depaul Depaul's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Depaul Depaul's 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.
Threats DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture are -
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Depaul Depaul's 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.
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 Depaul Depaul's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Depaul Depaul's.
Environmental challenges
– Depaul Depaul's 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. Depaul Depaul's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing wage structure of Depaul Depaul's
– 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 Depaul Depaul's.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Depaul Depaul's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Depaul Depaul's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Depaul Depaul's 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture .
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. Depaul Depaul's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Depaul Depaul's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Depaul Depaul's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture, Depaul Depaul's 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 DePaul Industries in 2012: Financing Growth in a Social Venture 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 Depaul Depaul's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
