GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun
GREENoneTEC, the global market leader in manufacturing flat plate solar thermal collectors, was facing new challenges: the potential market entry of Chinese low-cost competitors and a substitution threat from photovoltaics. The company's founder and chief executive officer had developed GREENoneTEC from a garage start-up to the industry's leading firm; however, GREENoneTEC's research and development, production, quality, sales and distribution strategies, and diversification into other segments of the solar market would all have to be considered from new angles. How could GREENoneTEC create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in this changing and difficult environment?
Swot Analysis of "GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun" written by Dietmar Sternad includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Greenonetec Solar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun casestudy better are - – technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Greenonetec Solar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Greenonetec Solar 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Greenonetec Solar
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 Greenonetec Solar
Strengths GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Greenonetec Solar in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Greenonetec Solar
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Greenonetec Solar does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Greenonetec Solar 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Greenonetec Solar 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Greenonetec Solar is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Greenonetec Solar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Greenonetec Solar 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Greenonetec Solar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Greenonetec Solar 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Greenonetec Solar 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Greenonetec Solar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Greenonetec Solar to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Greenonetec Solar to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Greenonetec Solar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Greenonetec Solar 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Greenonetec Solar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Greenonetec Solar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Greenonetec Solar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 Greenonetec Solar has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Greenonetec Solar supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Greenonetec Solar vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Greenonetec Solar 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Greenonetec Solar 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Dietmar Sternad suggests that, Greenonetec Solar 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, in the dynamic environment Greenonetec Solar has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Greenonetec Solar has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, is just above the industry average. Greenonetec Solar 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Greenonetec Solar is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun | 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun are -
Loyalty marketing
– Greenonetec Solar 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Greenonetec Solar 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Greenonetec Solar 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Greenonetec Solar 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Greenonetec Solar 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Greenonetec Solar is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Greenonetec Solar 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Greenonetec Solar 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Greenonetec Solar 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, GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Greenonetec Solar has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Greenonetec Solar to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun case study. Greenonetec Solar can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Greenonetec Solar 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Greenonetec Solar can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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.
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. Greenonetec Solar 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. Greenonetec Solar 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.
Threats GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun are -
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. Greenonetec Solar can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Greenonetec Solar in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Greenonetec Solar
– 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 Greenonetec Solar.
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. Greenonetec Solar 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Greenonetec Solar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Greenonetec Solar 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Greenonetec Solar with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Greenonetec Solar needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Greenonetec Solar 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun, Greenonetec Solar 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 Greenonetec Solar is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Greenonetec Solar business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Greenonetec Solar 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.
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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 GREENoneTEC: Fierce Competition Under the Sun 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 Greenonetec Solar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
