Case Study Description of China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits
David Wang must determine how to increase business development at the Xiangzhou Feedmill. The challenge facing Wang is to have the feedmill's managers adopt attitudes and behaviors that are consistent with a market-driven enterprise. This is no easy task considering that the feedmill is a former state-owned enterprise that did not strive to achieve independent profitability.
Swot Analysis of "China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits" written by Joseph J. Distefano, Tom Gleave includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Feedmill Wang facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Motivating people and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Feedmill Wang, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Feedmill Wang 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Feedmill Wang
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 Feedmill Wang
Strengths China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Feedmill Wang in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Feedmill Wang in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Feedmill Wang is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Feedmill Wang is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Feedmill Wang has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Feedmill Wang 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Feedmill Wang is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Feedmill Wang digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Feedmill Wang 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 brand equity
– Feedmill Wang has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Feedmill Wang to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Feedmill Wang 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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.
Training and development
– Feedmill Wang has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Feedmill Wang 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Feedmill Wang 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 Joseph J. Distefano, Tom Gleave can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Feedmill Wang is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits, in the dynamic environment Feedmill Wang has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Feedmill Wang has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Feedmill Wang 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Joseph J. Distefano, Tom Gleave suggests that, Feedmill Wang 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Feedmill Wang is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Feedmill Wang needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Feedmill Wang to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Feedmill Wang 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. Feedmill Wang 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Feedmill Wang, firm in the HBR case study China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Feedmill Wang has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 Feedmill Wang has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits HBR case study mentions - Feedmill Wang 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.
Opportunities China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits | 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Feedmill Wang has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Feedmill Wang to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits case study. Feedmill Wang 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. Feedmill Wang can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Feedmill Wang can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Feedmill Wang 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Feedmill Wang can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Feedmill Wang 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Feedmill Wang 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Feedmill Wang to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Feedmill Wang 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 Feedmill Wang 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.
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. Feedmill Wang can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Feedmill Wang can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Feedmill Wang operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Feedmill Wang 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Feedmill Wang 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.
Threats China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Feedmill Wang in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Feedmill Wang
– 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 Feedmill Wang.
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 Feedmill Wang.
Environmental challenges
– Feedmill Wang 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. Feedmill Wang can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Feedmill Wang 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.
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 Feedmill Wang business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Feedmill Wang 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Feedmill Wang 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Feedmill Wang has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Feedmill Wang 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.
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. Feedmill Wang needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Feedmill Wang 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 China-Canada Lean Swine Project: Changing Local Habits 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 Feedmill Wang needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
