Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry
Monsanto, a biotechnology giant highly committed to sustainable development efforts, needs to assess the attractiveness of the drinking water treatment industry before deciding its entry to it. Four dimensions of the global water treatment industry are described: types of products and services, applications, end users, and geographical markets. The drinking water treatment segment, which is classified into municipal drinking water treatment and residential drinking water treatment, is examined in depth. Players in these two categories produce the chemicals and equipment necessary to purify tap water supplied to consumers and residential water purification devices. The bottled water industry is considered a substitute of the drinking water treatment segment. Teaching purpose: To answer the question "Is the industry attractive?" and to introduce students to industry analysis and industry segmentation.
Swot Analysis of "Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry" written by Mary M. Crossan, Dusya Vera includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Water Drinking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Water Drinking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Water Drinking 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Water Drinking
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Water Drinking
Strengths Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Water Drinking in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Water Drinking has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Water Drinking 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.
Organizational Resilience of Water Drinking
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Water Drinking does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Water Drinking 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Water Drinking 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 Water Drinking is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Water Drinking is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Water Drinking in the sector have low bargaining power. Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Water Drinking to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Water Drinking 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Water Drinking digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Water Drinking 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.
Analytics focus
– Water Drinking 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 Mary M. Crossan, Dusya Vera 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Water Drinking is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Water Drinking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Water Drinking has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Water Drinking to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Water Drinking 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry HBR case study mentions - Water Drinking 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Water Drinking has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Need for greater diversity
– Water Drinking 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Water Drinking 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 - Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Water Drinking is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Water Drinking is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Water Drinking needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Water Drinking to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry, it seems that the employees of Water Drinking 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Water Drinking 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry, in the dynamic environment Water Drinking has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Water Drinking has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry | 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Water Drinking 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Water Drinking to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Water Drinking to increase its market reach. Water Drinking 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Water Drinking can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Water Drinking 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.
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 Water Drinking 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Water Drinking 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 Water Drinking has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Water Drinking to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry case study. Water Drinking can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Water Drinking 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Water Drinking can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Water Drinking operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Water Drinking can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Water Drinking in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Water Drinking 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, Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Water Drinking can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Threats Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Water Drinking 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry, Water Drinking may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Water Drinking can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Water Drinking 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Water Drinking 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.
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.
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 Water Drinking in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Water Drinking 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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 Water Drinking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Water Drinking
– 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 Water Drinking.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Water Drinking is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Water Drinking 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Monsanto and the Global Water Treatment Industry 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 Water Drinking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
