Case Study Description of Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version
Supplements Block 16: Conoco's Green Oil Strategy (A). Provides the indigenous people's perspective on Conoco's Ecuadorian strategy. Designed to be distributed to students who will be playing the role of Ecuadorian indigenous people.
Swot Analysis of "Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version" written by Malcolm S. Salter, Susan E.A. Hall includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Indigenous Ecuadorian facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Customers, Diversity, Ethics, Joint ventures, Policy, Social responsibility, Strategy execution, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Indigenous Ecuadorian, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Indigenous Ecuadorian
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 Indigenous Ecuadorian
Strengths Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Indigenous Ecuadorian in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Indigenous Ecuadorian to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Indigenous Ecuadorian to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Indigenous Ecuadorian has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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.
Analytics focus
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Malcolm S. Salter, Susan E.A. Hall 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
– Indigenous Ecuadorian is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Indigenous Ecuadorian has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Indigenous Ecuadorian to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Indigenous Ecuadorian is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Indigenous Ecuadorian is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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.
Organizational Resilience of Indigenous Ecuadorian
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Indigenous Ecuadorian does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Indigenous Ecuadorian in the sector have low bargaining power. Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Indigenous Ecuadorian to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Indigenous Ecuadorian digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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.
Weaknesses Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Malcolm S. Salter, Susan E.A. Hall suggests that, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Indigenous Ecuadorian is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Indigenous Ecuadorian is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Indigenous Ecuadorian has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Indigenous Ecuadorian even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version, it seems that the employees of Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Indigenous Ecuadorian has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Indigenous Ecuadorian has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 - Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version | 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Indigenous Ecuadorian 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. Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
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. Indigenous Ecuadorian can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Indigenous Ecuadorian can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Indigenous Ecuadorian has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Indigenous Ecuadorian to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version case study. Indigenous Ecuadorian can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Indigenous Ecuadorian 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
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
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 Indigenous Ecuadorian in the consumer business. Now Indigenous Ecuadorian can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Indigenous Ecuadorian is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Indigenous Ecuadorian to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Indigenous Ecuadorian to increase its market reach. Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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, Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Indigenous Ecuadorian has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Indigenous Ecuadorian needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
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 Indigenous Ecuadorian business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
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 Indigenous Ecuadorian in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Indigenous Ecuadorian is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Indigenous Ecuadorian 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Indigenous Ecuadorian in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Indigenous Ecuadorian 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.
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. Indigenous Ecuadorian can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Indigenous Ecuadorian with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Block 16: Indigenous Peoples' Perspective, Spanish Version 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 Indigenous Ecuadorian needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
