Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE
This is a four-player negotiation simulation in which a newly-privatized British water utility must deal with contentious unions and national collective-bargaining agreements. Explores the question of coalitions and multi-lateral negotiations, and the value of interlocking guarantees. This case contains the confidential information for one of the four roles.
Swot Analysis of "Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE" written by Robert J. Robinson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nupe Confidential facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nupe Confidential, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nupe Confidential 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nupe Confidential
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 Nupe Confidential
Strengths Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nupe Confidential in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nupe Confidential digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nupe Confidential 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
– Nupe Confidential 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 Nupe Confidential 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nupe Confidential 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Nupe Confidential is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nupe Confidential 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nupe Confidential in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Nupe Confidential has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nupe Confidential is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nupe Confidential is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nupe Confidential has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nupe Confidential 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 Nupe Confidential 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.
Weaknesses Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nupe Confidential 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nupe Confidential products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nupe Confidential needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE, it seems that the employees of Nupe Confidential 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nupe Confidential 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE, 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, Nupe Confidential 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Nupe Confidential has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nupe Confidential 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nupe Confidential 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 - Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Nupe Confidential 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE HBR case study mentions - Nupe Confidential 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.
Opportunities Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE | 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nupe Confidential 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, Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nupe Confidential 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Nupe Confidential can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nupe Confidential to increase its market reach. Nupe Confidential 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nupe Confidential 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.
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 Nupe Confidential 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Nupe Confidential can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Nupe Confidential 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nupe Confidential can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nupe Confidential operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nupe Confidential 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 Nupe Confidential to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Nupe Confidential 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. Nupe Confidential 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nupe Confidential 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.
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 Nupe Confidential in the consumer business. Now Nupe Confidential can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nupe Confidential 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.
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 Nupe Confidential business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Nupe Confidential needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nupe Confidential is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Nupe Confidential can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Nupe Confidential.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nupe Confidential 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.
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. Nupe Confidential 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nupe Confidential 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.
Environmental challenges
– Nupe Confidential 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. Nupe Confidential can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nupe Confidential 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Welsh Water (E): General Information and Confidential Instructions for Pat Cooper, Lead Negotiator for NUPE 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 Nupe Confidential needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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