In this module, please read the Kids & Company case (Harvard Business Review) carefully and answer the following prompt

1. What does Kids & Company do well in Canada?
2. What insights can you provide about the bargaining power of buyers in the US childcare market.
3. How is the Canadian childcare market different from that in the US?
4. How should the Kids & Companys leaders adjust their strategy to grow in the US?

PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE A RANDON ARTICLE AS AN ANSWER. please answer answer my questions and if you can't just ignore it. Thanks

Study case:

What is SWOT Analysis & Matrix? How you can use SWOT Analysis for Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

At EMBA PRO , we specialize at analyzing & providing comprehensive, corporate SWOT Analysis of Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. case study. Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. "referred as Childcare Kids in this analysis " is a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study used for MBA & EMBA programs. It is written by Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden and deals with topics in areas such as Strategy & Execution Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain SWOT Analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that Childcare Kids encounters both internally and in macro environment that it operates in. Strengths and Weaknesses are often restricted to companys internal - resources, skills and limitations. Opportunities and Threats are factors that are analyzed in view of the prevalent market forces and other factors such as legal & environmental, economic , social, health & safety, political, and technological. According to global executive survey done by Harvard Business Review & Brightline Initiative Only 20% of the strategic targets set by organizations are realized. Rest 80% of the strategic targets are not achieved because of incomprehensive planning, limited resource allocation, and poor execution. The successful organizations such as Childcare Kids are the one who able to predict market trends better than others, provide resources to develop products and services to leverage those trends, able to counter competitors threats, and meet customers expected value proposition.

Case Description of Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. Case Study

In April 2017, Victoria Sopik and Jennifer Nashmi, CEO and CFO (respectively) of Kids & Company, a Canadian childcare provider that they had co-founded in the early 2000s and developed into a nearly 100-unit enterprise, are discussing how the company should proceed with its planned U.S. expansion. Kids & Company already has five U.S. childcare centers in and around Chicago, Illinois, and one under construction in Boston, Massachusetts, but before going any further, the two leaders plan to discuss what they have learned so far from their U.S. experience, and how that should inform their strategic growth decisions moving forward. Unlike Canada, the U.S. already has other large, for-profit childcare providers, so Kids & Co. will have to grow in a more mature market, albeit one where Kids & Company's leaders still see substantial opportunity. Company leaders also believe that the company's "boutique" childcare centers, which maintain a strict focus on customer service and flexible childcare options, would be well-received by U.S. consumers, and help it stand out from the existing, more-standardized options. The question now is how, and how fast, to grow. Should it just replicate the exact model it has developed in Canada-which has proven somewhat challenging thus far in the few years it has operated in the U.S.-or adjust elements of its model? Should it look to acquire established providers, or possibly even franchise the brand?

Strengths - Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

Strengths are the Childcare Kids capabilities and resources that it can leverage to build a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Strengths come from positive aspects of five key resources & capabilities - past experiences and successes, financial resources, human resources, activities & processes, and physical resources such as land, building .

- Intellectual Property Rights Childcare Kids has garnered a wide array of patents and copyrights through innovation and buying those rights from the creators. This can help Childcare Kids in thwarting the challenges of competitors in various industries Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain.

- Managing Regulations and Business Environment Childcare Kids operates in an environment where it faces numerous regulations and government diktats. In Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain areas, the firm needs to navigate environment by building strong relationship with lobby groups and political network.

- Superior product and services quality can help Childcare Kids to further increase its market share as the current customer are extremely loyal to it. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden in Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. study there are enough evidences that with such a high quality of products and services, Childcare Kids can compete with other global players in international market.

- Strong relationship with existing suppliers As an incumbent in the industry, Childcare Kids has strong relationship with its suppliers and other members of the supply chain. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden , the organization can increase products and services by leveraging the skills of its suppliers and supply chain partners.

- Strong Balance Sheet and Financial Statement of Childcare Kids can help it to invest in new and diverse projects that can further diversify the revenue stream and increase Return on Sales (RoS) & other metrics.

- First Mover Advantage Childcare Kids has first mover advantage in number of segments. It has experimented in various areas Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain. The Strategy & Execution solutions & strategies has helped Childcare Kids in coming up with unique solution to tap the un-catered markets.

- Successful Go To Market Track Record Childcare Kids has a highly successful track record of both launching new products in the domestic market but also catering to the various market based on the insights from local consumers. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden , Childcare Kids has tested various concepts in different markets and come up with successful Strategy & Execution solutions.

Weakness- Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

Weaknesses are the areas, capabilities or skills in which Childcare Kids lacks. It limits the ability of the firm to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Weaknesses come from lack or absence of five key resources & capabilities - financial resources, past experiences and successes, human resources, activities & processes, and physical resources such as land, building .

- Project Management is too focused on internal delivery rather than considering all the interests of external stakeholders. This approach can lead to poor public relation and customer backlash.

- Track record on environment consideration is not very encouraging Childcare Kids track record on environmental issues is not very encouraging. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden , this can lead to consumer backlash as customers are now considering environmental protections as integral to part of doing business.

- Implementation of Technology in Processes Even though Childcare Kids has integrated technology in the backend processes it has still not able to harness the power of technology in the front end processes.

- Lack of critical talent I believe that Childcare Kids is suffering from lack of critical talent especially in the field of technology & digital transformation. Childcare Kids is struggling to restructure processes in light of developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

- Childcare Kids business model can be easily replicated even with the number of patents and copyrights the company possess. The intellectual property rights are very difficult to implement in the industry that Childcare Kids operates in. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden , Intellectual Property Rights are effective in thwarting same size competition but it is difficult to stop start ups disrupting markets at various other levels.

- Low Return on Investment Even though Childcare Kids is having a stable balance sheet, one metrics that needs reflection is Return on Invested Capital. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden in areas Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain that Childcare Kids operates in the most reliable measure of profitability is Return on Invested Capital rather than one favored by financial analysts such as Return on Equity & Return on Assets.

Opportunities- Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

Opportunities are macro environment factors and developments that Childcare Kids can leverage either to consolidate existing market position or use them for further expansion. Opportunities can emerge from various factors such as - technological innovations, changes in consumer preferences, political developments & policy changes, increase in consumer disposable income, and economic growth .

- Changing Technology Landscape Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence boom is transforming the technology landscape that Childcare Kids operates in. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden , Childcare Kids can use these developments in improving efficiencies, lowering costs, and transforming processes.

- Increasing Standardization Childcare Kids can leverage this trend to reduce the number of offerings in the market and focus the marketing efforts on only the most successful products.

- Increase in Consumer Disposable Income Childcare Kids can use the increasing disposable income to build a new business model where customers start paying progressively for using its products. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden of Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. case study, Childcare Kids can use this trend to expand in adjacent areas Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain.

- E-Commerce and Social Media Oriented Business Models E-commerce business model can help Childcare Kids to tie up with local suppliers and logistics provider in international market. Social media growth can help Childcare Kids to reduce the cost of entering new market and reaching to customers at a significantly lower marketing budget. It can also lead to crowd sourcing various services and consumer oriented marketing based on the data and purchase behavior.

- Opportunities in Adjacent Markets Childcare Kids can explore adjacent industries Cross-cultural management, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Product development, Supply chain to further market growth especially by extending the features of present products and services.

- Reducing Cost of Market Entry and Marketing into International Markets According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden, globalization along with boom in digital marketing and social media has considerably reduced the risks of market entry and marketing in international market.

Threats- Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

Threats are macro environment factors and developments that can derail business model of Childcare Kids. Threats can emerge from various factors such as - changes in consumer preferences, technological innovations, economic growth, political developments & policy changes, and increase in consumer disposable income .

Culture of sticky prices in the industry Childcare Kids operates in an industry where there is a culture of sticky prices. According to Boris Groysberg, Matthew Preble, Katherine Connolly Baden of Kids & Company: Entering the U.S. case study, this can lead to inability on part of the organization to increase prices that its premium prices deserve.

- US China Trade Relations Childcare Kids has focused on China for its next phase of growth. But there is growing tension between US China trade relations and it can lead to protectionism, more friction into international trade, rising costs both in terms of labor cost and cost of doing business.

- International Geo-Political Factors Since the Trump election, geo-political factors have taken a turn for growing protectionism. Developments such as Brexit, Russian sanctions, foreign exchange crisis & inflation in Venezuela, lower oil prices etc are impacting international business environment. Childcare Kids should closely focus on these events and make them integral to strategy making.

- Threats of New Entrants because of Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiencies As Childcare Kids can leverage low cost of reaching customers using social media and e-commerce, so can the competitors both local and international competitors.

- Growing Protectionism - Childcare Kids should hedge the risk against growing protectionism ranging from storing data into international market to diversifying risk by operating into countries at different economic cycle.

- Government Regulations and Bureaucracy Childcare Kids should keep a close eye on the fast changing government regulations under the growing pressure from protest groups and non government organization especially regarding to environmental and labor safety aspects.