Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess"
Seeking to dispose of an outmoded oil drilling platform in the North Sea, Shell finds itself confronted by Greenpeace and other environmentalists. The protesters land 12 people onto the rig and initiate media coverage of their "occupation." The case follows the events during the spring and summer of 1995, focusing on the United Kingdom and Continent countries. Students are confronted with the need to recommend communication approaches and actions at various stages of the developments.
Swot Analysis of "Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess"" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shell Confronted facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations, Sustainability and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shell Confronted, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shell Confronted 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shell Confronted
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 Shell Confronted
Strengths Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shell Confronted in Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Shell Confronted 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 Shell Confronted is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Shell Confronted 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 Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Shell Confronted has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shell Confronted 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Shell Confronted 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Shell Confronted digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Shell Confronted 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.
Organizational Resilience of Shell Confronted
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Shell Confronted does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Shell Confronted has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shell Confronted to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shell Confronted 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shell Confronted in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shell Confronted to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shell Confronted to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Shell Confronted 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 Shell Confronted in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shell Confronted is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Shell Confronted needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shell Confronted to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shell Confronted 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Shell Confronted 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Shell Confronted, firm in the HBR case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Shell Confronted is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Shell Confronted has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Shell Confronted even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess", is just above the industry average. Shell Confronted 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" HBR case study mentions - Shell Confronted takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shell Confronted is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Shell Confronted 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Shell Confronted has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Opportunities Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" | 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" are -
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 Shell Confronted in the consumer business. Now Shell Confronted can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shell Confronted 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shell Confronted to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shell Confronted 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shell Confronted is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Shell Confronted 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.
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. Shell Confronted 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. Shell Confronted 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Shell Confronted 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shell Confronted can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shell Confronted operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shell Confronted to increase its market reach. Shell Confronted 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Shell Confronted 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Shell Confronted 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shell Confronted 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Shell Confronted 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, Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess", 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess", Shell Confronted 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 .
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. Shell Confronted needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Shell Confronted 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Shell Confronted has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shell Confronted needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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 Shell Confronted.
Increasing wage structure of Shell Confronted
– 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 Shell Confronted.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Shell Confronted 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 Shell Confronted 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.
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. Shell Confronted 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shell Confronted 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" .
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 Shell Confronted business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Shell Confronted 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. Shell Confronted can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Brent Spar Incident: "A Shell of a Mess" 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 Shell Confronted needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.