Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain
In 2007, Walmart was sourcing approximately $750 million in seafood annually. Although output from the world's fisheries had declined to 3 percent of production levels in the year 1900, the company's volume of seafood business was growing at roughly 25 percent per year. Against this backdrop, Peter Redmond, vice president for seafood and deli, believed that continuity of supply was the single greatest long-term issue facing the seafood network. To help address this challenge as part of the company's recently-announced sustainability strategy, Walmart set a goal to transition to selling 100 percent MSC certified wild-caught seafood by the end of 2011. To accomplish its goal of selling only certified wild-caught fish, Walmart would have to work through its suppliers to increase the number of fisheries and processing plants in the MSC certification program. This case describes MSC certification and the salmon supply chain from the point of view of one of Walmart's tier-one seafood suppliers. It provides enough detail that students should be able to make recommendations regarding how should Walmart rationalize its seafood supply chain to reduce costs and promote sustainability.
Swot Analysis of "Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain" written by Erica Plambeck, Lyn Denend includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Seafood Walmart facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Seafood Walmart, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Seafood Walmart 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Seafood Walmart
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 Seafood Walmart
Strengths Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Seafood Walmart in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Seafood Walmart has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Seafood Walmart 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Seafood Walmart is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Seafood Walmart in the sector have low bargaining power. Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Seafood Walmart to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Seafood Walmart is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Seafood Walmart is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Seafood Walmart in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Seafood Walmart has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Learning organization
- Seafood Walmart 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 Seafood Walmart is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Seafood Walmart has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Seafood Walmart 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Seafood Walmart 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain are -
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Seafood Walmart supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Seafood Walmart vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Seafood Walmart, firm in the HBR case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Seafood Walmart 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain, in the dynamic environment Seafood Walmart has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Seafood Walmart has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Seafood Walmart 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. Seafood Walmart 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Seafood Walmart 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Seafood Walmart has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Seafood Walmart 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Seafood Walmart is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Seafood Walmart needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Seafood Walmart to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain, is just above the industry average. Seafood Walmart 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Seafood Walmart 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain | 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Seafood Walmart in the consumer business. Now Seafood Walmart can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Seafood Walmart 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, Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Seafood Walmart can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Manufacturing automation
– Seafood Walmart can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Seafood Walmart 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Seafood Walmart can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Seafood Walmart has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Seafood Walmart to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain case study. Seafood Walmart can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Seafood Walmart can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Seafood Walmart 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Seafood Walmart 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Seafood Walmart 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Seafood Walmart can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Seafood Walmart to increase its market reach. Seafood Walmart 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.
Threats Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Seafood Walmart is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Seafood Walmart 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.
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. Seafood Walmart needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Seafood Walmart 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.
Increasing wage structure of Seafood Walmart
– 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 Seafood Walmart.
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 Seafood Walmart business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain, Seafood Walmart 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 .
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Seafood Walmart 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Seafood Walmart with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Seafood Walmart 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Seafood Walmart 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain 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 Seafood Walmart needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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