Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
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 - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Seafood Walmart digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Seafood Walmart 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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Seafood Walmart is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Seafood Walmart
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Seafood Walmart does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Seafood Walmart 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 Seafood Walmart in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Need for greater diversity
– Seafood Walmart 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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Seafood Walmart 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Seafood Walmart 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 - Walmart's Sustainability Strategy (C): Inventory Management in the Seafood Supply Chain should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Seafood Walmart 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.
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.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Seafood Walmart 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Seafood Walmart 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 Seafood Walmart 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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 Seafood Walmart.
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.
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. Seafood Walmart can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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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