Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change
Case A: Presents three strategic options considered by a fictitious international oil and gas corporation to address the issue of climate change: fight against action, wait and see, and dynamic proactive.
Authors :: Marc Le Menestrel, Sybille Van den Hove, Henri-Claude De Bettignies
Swot Analysis of "Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change" written by Marc Le Menestrel, Sybille Van den Hove, Henri-Claude De Bettignies includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Climate Oil facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Climate Oil, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Climate Oil 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Climate Oil
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 Climate Oil
Strengths Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Climate Oil in Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Climate Oil is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Climate Oil digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Climate Oil 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Climate Oil has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Climate Oil 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Climate Oil in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Climate Oil 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Climate Oil
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Climate Oil does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Climate Oil are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Climate Oil 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Climate Oil is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Climate Oil 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 Climate Oil in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Climate Oil in the sector have low bargaining power. Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Climate Oil to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change HBR case study mentions - Climate Oil 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.
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 Climate Oil supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Climate Oil vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Marc Le Menestrel, Sybille Van den Hove, Henri-Claude De Bettignies suggests that, Climate Oil 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change, it seems that the employees of Climate Oil 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Climate Oil products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Climate Oil needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Climate Oil is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Climate Oil needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Climate Oil to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Climate Oil 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. Climate Oil 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Climate Oil 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Climate Oil 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Climate Oil has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Climate Oil, firm in the HBR case study Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change | 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Climate Oil 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Climate Oil can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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.
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 Climate Oil in the consumer business. Now Climate Oil can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Climate Oil 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Climate Oil to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Climate Oil 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, Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Climate Oil 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Climate Oil 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.
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. Climate Oil 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. Climate Oil 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Climate Oil can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Climate Oil 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, Climate Oil can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Climate Oil operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Climate Oil can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Climate Oil 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.
Threats Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Climate Oil 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Climate Oil 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.
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. Climate Oil needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Climate Oil 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.
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 Climate Oil in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Climate Oil
– 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 Climate Oil.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Climate Oil 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
– Climate Oil 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Climate Oil has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Climate Oil 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.
Environmental challenges
– Climate Oil 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. Climate Oil can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Climate Oil business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Climate Oil.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Should Business Influence the Science and Politics of Global Environmental Change? (A): The Oil Industry and Climate Change 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 Climate Oil needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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