Case Study Description of Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility
The incoming vice-president in situ of Suncor Energy is faced with problems of underperformance at a new facility that uses the innovative in situ technology. This technology accesses bitumen in reservoirs too deep for traditional mining practices to recover. Although it is deemed less harmful to the environment than surface mining, in situ technology does create more greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide emissions, but these can be controlled with new equipment. Recently, the site has come under investigation for two environmental compliance charges related to a missing piece of pollution control equipment. The new vice-president needs to analyze the root causes of the facility's operational challenges and develop a plan to deliver on the parent company's operational excellence strategy. Author Stephanie Bertels is affiliated with Simon Fraser University. Connie Van der Byl is affiliated with Mount Royal University and Frances Bowen is affiliated with University of London.
Authors :: Stephanie Bertels, Connie Van der Byl, Frances Bowen
Swot Analysis of "Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility" written by Stephanie Bertels, Connie Van der Byl, Frances Bowen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Situ Suncor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Situ Suncor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Situ Suncor 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Situ Suncor
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 Situ Suncor
Strengths Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Situ Suncor in Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Situ Suncor 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 Situ Suncor in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Situ Suncor 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility - 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
– Situ Suncor has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Situ Suncor 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Situ Suncor 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Situ Suncor 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Situ Suncor 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Situ Suncor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Situ Suncor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Situ Suncor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Situ Suncor is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Situ Suncor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Situ Suncor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Situ Suncor is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Situ Suncor is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Situ Suncor 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 - Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Situ Suncor, firm in the HBR case study Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Situ Suncor 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.
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 Situ Suncor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Situ Suncor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Situ Suncor 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility, it seems that the employees of Situ Suncor 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 Situ Suncor products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Situ Suncor needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Situ Suncor 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Situ Suncor 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Situ Suncor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility | 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility are -
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 Situ Suncor 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Situ Suncor 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. Situ Suncor 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. Situ Suncor 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Situ Suncor 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Situ Suncor to increase its market reach. Situ Suncor 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Situ Suncor 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.
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. Situ Suncor can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Situ Suncor 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Situ Suncor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Situ Suncor 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 Situ Suncor to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Situ Suncor 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Situ Suncor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Situ Suncor in the consumer business. Now Situ Suncor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility are -
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 Situ Suncor in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Situ Suncor
– 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 Situ Suncor.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Situ Suncor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Situ Suncor 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Situ Suncor 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Situ Suncor 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Situ Suncor 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility, Situ Suncor 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Situ Suncor 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 Situ Suncor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Situ Suncor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Situ Suncor 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Situ Suncor 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. Situ Suncor can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Environmental Compliance at Suncor Energy's Firebag Facility 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 Situ Suncor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
