Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?"
Deals with the depletion of fish stocks in the late 1990s. Unilever, one of the biggest fish producers in the world, had a strong interest in finding a solution for this dilemma. Unilever decided to found the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This council is run as a joint venture with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). Provides detailed background of both Unilever and the WWF to understand their intentions. Describes the process of setting up the MSC and deals with the issues of stakeholder management. Interestingly, other environmental groups heavily criticized the WWF for joining forces with Unilever.
Swot Analysis of "Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?"" written by Ulrich Steger, George Radler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Unilever Wwf facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Joint ventures, Operations management, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization,
technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Unilever Wwf, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Unilever Wwf 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Unilever Wwf
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 Unilever Wwf
Strengths Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Unilever Wwf in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Unilever Wwf 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Unilever Wwf 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.
Training and development
– Unilever Wwf has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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.
Learning organization
- Unilever Wwf 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 Unilever Wwf is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Unilever Wwf has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Unilever Wwf to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Unilever Wwf to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Unilever Wwf to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Unilever Wwf 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 Unilever Wwf in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Unilever Wwf has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Unilever Wwf 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
– Unilever Wwf 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 Ulrich Steger, George Radler 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Unilever Wwf in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Unilever Wwf in the sector have low bargaining power. Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Unilever Wwf to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Unilever Wwf 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 - Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Unilever Wwf needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" HBR case study mentions - Unilever Wwf 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Unilever Wwf is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Unilever Wwf 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Unilever Wwf 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. Unilever Wwf 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Unilever Wwf 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Unilever Wwf 's lucrative customers.
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 Unilever Wwf supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?", it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Unilever Wwf vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Unilever Wwf products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Unilever Wwf needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Unilever Wwf 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.
Opportunities Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" | 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" are -
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. Unilever Wwf can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Unilever Wwf 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Unilever Wwf 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Unilever Wwf has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Unilever Wwf to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" case study. Unilever Wwf can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Unilever Wwf can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Unilever Wwf operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Unilever Wwf 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, Unilever Wwf 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, Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?", to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Unilever Wwf 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 Unilever Wwf to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Unilever Wwf can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Unilever Wwf is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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.
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 Unilever Wwf in the consumer business. Now Unilever Wwf can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Unilever Wwf 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Unilever Wwf to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Unilever Wwf 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" are -
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 Unilever Wwf.
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 Unilever Wwf in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Unilever Wwf
– 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 Unilever Wwf.
Regulatory challenges
– Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Unilever Wwf 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?", Unilever Wwf 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Unilever Wwf 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. Unilever Wwf can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Unilever Wwf is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Unilever Wwf needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Unilever Wwf 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 Unilever Wwf business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Unilever Wwf has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Unilever Wwf 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" 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 Unilever Wwf needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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