The IDIEM, through its Energy and Sustainability Department, has launched a new line of consultancy services for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in Chile. A central component of this initiative is the online Catalogo Verde, a portal for the environmental rating of construction materials. The site is designed to provide technical specifications and detailed materials testing results for architects designing buildings to be certified as LEED compliant. The LEED certification constitutes a third-party validation of the energy and environmental performance of buildings. An LEED certification is seen by the general public as an indicator of corporate social responsibility and good citizenship for the owners and users. The IDIEM-Catalogo Verde was designed as a knowledge instrument for the engineering and architecture markets, but also as a tool to build relationships and open doors for other IDIEM services. Besides, it is a tool to build the IDIEM brand among key influencers in the construction industry, government agencies, real estate investors, and materials suppliers. Catalogo Verde has been very well received. The backing of IDIEM is an umbrella that guarantees its excellence and competence. Management has launched a series of initiatives to build up online traffic and accelerate the adoption of LEED by architects in Chile.
Authors :: John Zerio, Paula Araneda Cedilia, Christian Fuentes
Swot Analysis of "IDIEM-Catalogo Verde" written by John Zerio, Paula Araneda Cedilia, Christian Fuentes includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Idiem Catalogo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the IDIEM-Catalogo Verde casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of IDIEM-Catalogo Verde
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Idiem Catalogo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Idiem Catalogo 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Idiem Catalogo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Idiem Catalogo
Strengths IDIEM-Catalogo Verde | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Idiem Catalogo in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Idiem Catalogo 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 Idiem Catalogo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Idiem Catalogo 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 John Zerio, Paula Araneda Cedilia, Christian Fuentes 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Idiem Catalogo 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Idiem Catalogo are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Idiem Catalogo is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the IDIEM-Catalogo Verde are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Idiem Catalogo 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Idiem Catalogo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– IDIEM-Catalogo Verde firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Idiem Catalogo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Idiem Catalogo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Idiem Catalogo is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in IDIEM-Catalogo Verde Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Idiem Catalogo
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Idiem Catalogo does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Idiem Catalogo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses IDIEM-Catalogo Verde | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of IDIEM-Catalogo Verde are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John Zerio, Paula Araneda Cedilia, Christian Fuentes suggests that, Idiem Catalogo 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study IDIEM-Catalogo Verde, it seems that the employees of Idiem Catalogo don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Idiem Catalogo 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. Idiem Catalogo 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As IDIEM-Catalogo Verde HBR case study mentions - Idiem Catalogo 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Idiem Catalogo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Idiem Catalogo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study IDIEM-Catalogo Verde, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Idiem Catalogo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Idiem Catalogo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Idiem Catalogo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 Idiem Catalogo 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Idiem Catalogo 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Idiem Catalogo 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 Idiem Catalogo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities IDIEM-Catalogo Verde | 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Idiem Catalogo 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
– Idiem Catalogo 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.
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. Idiem Catalogo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Idiem Catalogo in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Idiem Catalogo to increase its market reach. Idiem Catalogo 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Idiem Catalogo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Idiem Catalogo can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Idiem Catalogo operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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 Idiem Catalogo 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Idiem Catalogo to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Idiem Catalogo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Idiem Catalogo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Idiem Catalogo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Idiem Catalogo 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Idiem Catalogo 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, IDIEM-Catalogo Verde, 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study IDIEM-Catalogo Verde are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Idiem Catalogo 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.
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 Idiem Catalogo in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Idiem Catalogo 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.
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 Idiem Catalogo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Idiem Catalogo
– 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 Idiem Catalogo.
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 Idiem Catalogo.
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. Idiem Catalogo 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, Idiem Catalogo 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Idiem Catalogo in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Idiem Catalogo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Idiem Catalogo 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 IDIEM-Catalogo Verde 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 Idiem Catalogo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.