Swot Analysis of "Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Matthew Bird includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Godsil B5 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Godsil B5, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Godsil B5 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Godsil B5
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 Godsil B5
Strengths Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Godsil B5 in Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Godsil B5 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Godsil B5 has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Godsil B5 in the sector have low bargaining power. Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Godsil B5 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Godsil B5 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Godsil B5 to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Godsil B5 to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Godsil B5 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Godsil B5 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Matthew Bird 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Godsil B5 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Godsil B5 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.
High brand equity
– Godsil B5 has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Godsil B5 to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Godsil B5
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Godsil B5 does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Godsil B5 has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Godsil B5 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics HBR case study mentions - Godsil B5 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 Godsil B5 products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Godsil B5 needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Godsil B5, firm in the HBR case study Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Godsil B5 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 - Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics, is just above the industry average. Godsil B5 needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Godsil B5 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Godsil B5 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics, in the dynamic environment Godsil B5 has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Godsil B5 has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Godsil B5 is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Godsil B5 needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Godsil B5 to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics | 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Godsil B5 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Godsil B5 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Godsil B5 can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Godsil B5 can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Godsil B5 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Godsil B5 to increase its market reach. Godsil B5 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.
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 Godsil B5 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Godsil B5 can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Godsil B5 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, Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Godsil B5 can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Godsil B5 can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Godsil B5 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 Godsil B5 to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Godsil B5 in the consumer business. Now Godsil B5 can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Godsil B5 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.
Threats Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics are -
Increasing wage structure of Godsil B5
– 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 Godsil B5.
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 Godsil B5 business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Godsil B5 in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Godsil B5 with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Godsil B5 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.
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
– Godsil B5 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Godsil B5 needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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. Godsil B5 needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Godsil B5 will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Godsil B5 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Godsil B5 is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Godsil B5.
Environmental challenges
– Godsil B5 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. Godsil B5 can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Milwaukee (B5): James Godsil, Co-Founder, Sweet Water Organics 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 Godsil B5 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
