Swot Analysis of "EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests" written by Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Epcor Utilities facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Corporate governance, Social responsibility and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Epcor Utilities, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Epcor Utilities 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Epcor Utilities
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Epcor Utilities
Strengths EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Epcor Utilities in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Epcor Utilities 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
– Epcor Utilities has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Epcor Utilities is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Epcor Utilities 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 Epcor Utilities in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Epcor Utilities 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Epcor Utilities in the sector have low bargaining power. EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Epcor Utilities to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Epcor Utilities to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Epcor Utilities to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Epcor Utilities 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 Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Epcor Utilities is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Epcor Utilities digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Epcor Utilities 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Epcor Utilities is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Epcor Utilities has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Epcor Utilities to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 Epcor Utilities has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests HBR case study mentions - Epcor Utilities 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pratima Bansal, Tom Ewart suggests that, Epcor Utilities 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Epcor Utilities, firm in the HBR case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Epcor Utilities products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Epcor Utilities needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Epcor Utilities 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 Epcor Utilities 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests, it seems that the employees of Epcor Utilities 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Epcor Utilities is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Epcor Utilities 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Epcor Utilities 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 - EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests | 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Epcor Utilities in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Epcor Utilities 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 Epcor Utilities to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Epcor Utilities 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Epcor Utilities can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Epcor Utilities operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Epcor Utilities 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Epcor Utilities 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, EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Epcor Utilities is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Epcor Utilities 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Epcor Utilities has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Epcor Utilities to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests case study. Epcor Utilities can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Epcor Utilities 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. Epcor Utilities 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Epcor Utilities to increase its market reach. Epcor Utilities 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Epcor Utilities can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Epcor Utilities 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 Organizational Development segment.
Threats EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Epcor Utilities 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests .
Increasing wage structure of Epcor Utilities
– 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 Epcor Utilities.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Epcor Utilities with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Epcor Utilities 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.
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 Epcor Utilities.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Epcor Utilities 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Epcor Utilities in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Epcor Utilities can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Epcor Utilities 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests, Epcor Utilities may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
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 Epcor Utilities business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 EPCOR Utilities Inc. (B): Balancing Stakeholder Interests 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 Epcor Utilities needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.