Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green

This empirical research explores how 16 global corporations from four different industry sectors--retail, technology equipment, food/beverage/tobacco, and consumer goods--use social media platforms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to communicate about sustainability. Facebook, Twitter, CEO letters from annual reports and CSR/sustainability reports, and other company documentation are examined to compare the content and scope of these firms' corporate communication. The sample is divided into two subsamples (Green and Not Green firms) using Newsweek's Greenest Company 2012 rankings, and compared for differential use of social media and corporate reports. Results show that communication varies across firm and industry regarding types of sustainability initiatives reported, metrics employed, and communication media utilized, and that Green firms are more active than Not Green firms both in addressing sustainability and in general social media activity. Implications are discussed herein and recommendations are presented for companies seeking to better understand the effective use of social media and sustainability communication.

Authors :: Anne H. Reilly, Katherine A. Hynan

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: International business, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green" written by Anne H. Reilly, Katherine A. Hynan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sustainability Green facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Sales & Marketing.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sustainability Green, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sustainability Green 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sustainability Green
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 Sustainability Green

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Strengths Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Sustainability Green in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Sustainability Green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sustainability Green digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sustainability Green 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Sustainability Green is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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.

Analytics focus

– Sustainability Green 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 Anne H. Reilly, Katherine A. Hynan 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Sustainability Green in the sector have low bargaining power. Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sustainability Green to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Learning organization

- Sustainability Green 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 Sustainability Green is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Sustainability Green has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sustainability Green 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.

Training and development

– Sustainability Green has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Sustainability Green 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

– Sustainability Green has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sustainability Green to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Sustainability Green is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry

– Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sustainability Green to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sustainability Green to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green are -

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sustainability Green has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anne H. Reilly, Katherine A. Hynan suggests that, Sustainability Green 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green HBR case study mentions - Sustainability Green 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green, is just above the industry average. Sustainability Green 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green, it seems that the employees of Sustainability Green 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

– Sustainability Green 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Sustainability Green 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green, in the dynamic environment Sustainability Green has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sustainability Green has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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 Sustainability Green supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sustainability Green vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Sustainability Green has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sustainability Green is planning to shift buying processes online.

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Opportunities Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green | 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Sustainability Green 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Sustainability Green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sustainability Green to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sustainability Green 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Sustainability Green 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Sustainability Green can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Sustainability Green 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.

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 Sustainability Green 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sustainability Green 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sustainability Green can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Sustainability Green has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sustainability Green to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green case study. Sustainability Green can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sustainability Green is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sustainability Green to increase its market reach. Sustainability Green 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.

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 Sustainability Green in the consumer business. Now Sustainability Green can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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Threats Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green are -

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.

Environmental challenges

– Sustainability Green 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. Sustainability Green can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Sustainability Green 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Sustainability Green has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sustainability Green 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. Sustainability Green needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Sustainability Green business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green, Sustainability Green may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .

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 Sustainability Green.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Sustainability Green high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sustainability Green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sustainability Green 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.

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 Sustainability Green in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green 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 Sustainability Green needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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