Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia
BIG PASTURE Animal Husbandry Company (Group) Co., Ltd. (BIG PASTURE) had achieved great success after nearly 10 years of development. It had started as a ready-to-eat food processing factory that supplied individually owned stores and franchises with self-produced food. Since then, its product line was extended to include fresh and processed beef and mutton. At the same time, BIG PASTURE undertook a major shift from company-operated stores to community convenience stores, further fostering its community economy. However, since the rapid development of e-commerce had contributed toward the success of many local sellers in China, BIG PASTURE saw the possibility of a breakthrough. Thus, the major challenges facing the company included creating a national market through e-commerce and developing community economies. Xiaokui Huang is affiliated with Inner Mongolia University.
Authors :: Xiaokui Huang, Miao Cui, Liqin Zhang, Ke Wang
Swot Analysis of "Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia" written by Xiaokui Huang, Miao Cui, Liqin Zhang, Ke Wang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pasture Mongolia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pasture Mongolia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pasture Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pasture Mongolia
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 Pasture Mongolia
Strengths Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pasture Mongolia in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Pasture Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Pasture Mongolia 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 Xiaokui Huang, Miao Cui, Liqin Zhang, Ke Wang 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pasture Mongolia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pasture Mongolia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Pasture Mongolia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pasture Mongolia 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Pasture Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pasture Mongolia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pasture Mongolia 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Pasture Mongolia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pasture Mongolia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pasture Mongolia 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pasture Mongolia in the sector have low bargaining power. Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pasture Mongolia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pasture Mongolia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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.
Weaknesses Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pasture Mongolia has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Pasture Mongolia 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia, 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 Pasture Mongolia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Pasture Mongolia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pasture Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pasture Mongolia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pasture Mongolia 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 - Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pasture Mongolia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia, it seems that the employees of Pasture Mongolia 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Pasture Mongolia 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Pasture Mongolia, firm in the HBR case study Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pasture Mongolia 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.
Opportunities Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia | 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia are -
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. Pasture Mongolia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Pasture Mongolia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pasture Mongolia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pasture Mongolia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia case study. Pasture Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pasture Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Pasture Mongolia 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.
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. Pasture Mongolia 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, Pasture Mongolia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pasture Mongolia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pasture Mongolia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pasture Mongolia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pasture Mongolia 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
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 Pasture Mongolia 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pasture Mongolia 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.
Threats Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia are -
Regulatory challenges
– Pasture Mongolia needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pasture Mongolia 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.
Environmental challenges
– Pasture Mongolia 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. Pasture Mongolia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pasture Mongolia is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Pasture Mongolia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pasture Mongolia 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.
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 Pasture Mongolia 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. Pasture Mongolia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pasture Mongolia 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.
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 Pasture Mongolia.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pasture Mongolia 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. Pasture Mongolia 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Channel Change at the BIG PASTURE in Inner Mongolia 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 Pasture Mongolia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.