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 - – wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, 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 -
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Unilever Wwf 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.
Organizational Resilience of Unilever Wwf
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Unilever Wwf does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Unilever Wwf is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Unilever Wwf is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Unilever Wwf is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?", is just above the industry average. Unilever Wwf 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ulrich Steger, George Radler suggests that, Unilever Wwf 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 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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Unilever Wwf 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Unilever Wwf has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Unilever Wwf is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Marine Stewardship Council (A): Is a Joint Venture Possible Between "Suits and Sandals?" can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Unilever Wwf can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Unilever Wwf 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Unilever Wwf to increase its market reach. Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
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. Unilever Wwf can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Unilever Wwf 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.
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 -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
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. Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Unilever Wwf with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Unilever Wwf 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.
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.
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.
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.
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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