The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development
The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) had two primary purposes: (1) to protect Canada's boreal forest from harmful logging practices; and (2) to improve and protect the reputation of Canada's forest industry and companies. But the CBFA's ambitious plans overlooked the fundamental challenges associated with the agreement's implementation. Two years after its signing, the agreement suffers from a severe lack of funding, the withdrawal of one signatory and major hurdles at the regional working group level. The CBFA's secretariat needs to develop a plan of action to realize the full potential of the agreement but faces numerous issues in terms of implementation: (1) the CBFA's exclusion of First Nations communities; (2) funding issues; (3) disagreement at the local regional levels and among some signatories; (4) slow pace of implementation and (5) limited concrete signs of success thus far.
Swot Analysis of "The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development" written by Michael Valente, Mark Desjardine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Boreal Cbfa's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Boreal Cbfa's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Boreal Cbfa'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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Boreal Cbfa'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 Boreal Cbfa's
Strengths The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Boreal Cbfa's in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Boreal Cbfa'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 Boreal Cbfa's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Boreal Cbfa'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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Boreal Cbfa'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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Boreal Cbfa's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Boreal Cbfa's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Boreal Cbfa'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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Boreal Cbfa's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Boreal Cbfa'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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Boreal Cbfa's 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 Boreal Cbfa's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Boreal Cbfa's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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.
Analytics focus
– Boreal Cbfa'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 Michael Valente, Mark Desjardine 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Boreal Cbfa's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Boreal Cbfa's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Boreal Cbfa'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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Boreal Cbfa's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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.
Weaknesses The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Boreal Cbfa's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Boreal Cbfa's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Boreal Cbfa's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, in the dynamic environment Boreal Cbfa's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Boreal Cbfa's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Boreal Cbfa's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, is just above the industry average. Boreal Cbfa'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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Boreal Cbfa'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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, it seems that the employees of Boreal Cbfa's don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Boreal Cbfa'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 - The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 Boreal Cbfa's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Valente, Mark Desjardine suggests that, Boreal Cbfa'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.
Opportunities The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development | 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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development are -
Loyalty marketing
– Boreal Cbfa'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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Boreal Cbfa's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Boreal Cbfa's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Boreal Cbfa's in the consumer business. Now Boreal Cbfa's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Boreal Cbfa's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Boreal Cbfa'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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Boreal Cbfa's can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Boreal Cbfa's can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Boreal Cbfa's can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Boreal Cbfa'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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Boreal Cbfa's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Boreal Cbfa's to increase its market reach. Boreal Cbfa's 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.
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 Boreal Cbfa'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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Boreal Cbfa'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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Boreal Cbfa'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, The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development are -
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 Boreal Cbfa's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Boreal Cbfa's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Boreal Cbfa'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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Boreal Cbfa's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Boreal Cbfa's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Boreal Cbfa's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Boreal Cbfa's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Boreal Cbfa'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.
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 Boreal Cbfa's.
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. Boreal Cbfa'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.
Increasing wage structure of Boreal Cbfa'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 Boreal Cbfa's.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development, Boreal Cbfa'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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: A Revolutionary Partnership for Sustainable Development 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 Boreal Cbfa's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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