Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China
In 2008, Maria Yee Inc. occupied a unique position as a premium "green" household furniture maker with two direct-owned factories in China and distribution through several large U.S. retailers. Yee, a Chinese-born entrepreneur in California, founded her business in 1988 with Asian-inspired designs and Chinese hand joinery techniques. Over the years, she pursued environmentally responsible principles such as using renewable bamboo and eco-certified wood. She believed in being green through thoughtful design and manufacturing, not just marketing. The company was a leader on environmental initiatives within the furniture industry. But Yee wrestled with how to expand and become more mass market while staying true to her green values. The biggest challenge was staying cost-competitive, since environmental innovations such as using eco-certified timber or eco-friendly manufacturing processes tended to cost more. The company experienced problems developing a reliable green supply chain in China for wood, bamboo and finishes. It faced the challenge of getting consumers to fully value the environmental benefit of its products. And it was considering how to create greater brand awareness and develop new market segments and distribution channels for its eco-furniture. The case addresses the unique challenges that an entrepreneurial company faces in reaching its full potential as a business while advancing its green strategy.
Swot Analysis of "Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China" written by Glenn Carroll, Maria Shao includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Yee Green facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Manufacturing, Social responsibility, Supply chain, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Yee Green, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Yee Green 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Yee Green
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 Yee Green
Strengths Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Yee Green in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Yee Green
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Yee Green does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Yee Green has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Yee Green digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Yee Green 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Yee Green is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Yee Green is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Yee Green 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Yee Green 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 Yee Green in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Yee Green has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Yee Green has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Yee Green 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Yee Green in the sector have low bargaining power. Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Yee Green to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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.
Analytics focus
– Yee Green 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 Glenn Carroll, Maria Shao 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.
Weaknesses Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Yee Green is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Yee Green 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China, it seems that the employees of Yee Green 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Glenn Carroll, Maria Shao suggests that, Yee Green 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Yee Green 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China HBR case study mentions - Yee Green 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Yee Green is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Yee Green needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Yee Green to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Yee Green 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Yee Green 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Yee Green, firm in the HBR case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China | 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Yee Green is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Yee Green 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 Yee Green to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Yee Green can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Yee Green operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Yee Green 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, Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Yee Green 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Yee Green has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Yee Green to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China case study. Yee Green can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Yee Green in the consumer business. Now Yee Green can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Yee Green 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Yee Green to increase its market reach. Yee Green 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Yee Green 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.
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 Yee Green 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.
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. Yee Green 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. Yee Green 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Yee Green 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Yee Green to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China are -
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 Yee Green business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Yee Green has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Yee Green 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.
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 Yee Green.
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. Yee Green needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China, Yee Green 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
– Yee Green 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. Yee Green 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 Yee Green is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Yee Green
– 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 Yee Green.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Yee Green 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Yee Green 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Yee Green with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Yee Green 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China .
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. Yee Green can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China 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 Yee Green needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.