Case Study Description of Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency
Groom Energy Solutions helps organizations reduce their energy use and costs through the implementation of energy efficiency measures, which create long-term financial and environmental benefits. With early success serving customers in the cold storage and industrial manufacturing sectors, the seven-year-old company must now decide whether to continue expanding within these segments or transition into commercial retail and office buildings, which offer growth potential and unique challenges. Groom Energy must also decide which geographic regions provide the best opportunity. This case study provides background on the history of the energy efficiency industry, the energy efficiency paradox, and the benefits and challenges of a business focused on implementing efficiency measures. The case is particularly relevant to courses focused on energy management, environmental sustainability, and entrepreneurship within the energy and sustainability areas.
Authors :: Michael W. Toffel, Kira Fabrizio, Stephanie van Sice
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Change management, Forecasting, Growth strategy, Human resource management, International business, Manufacturing, Marketing, Research & development, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Sustainability, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency" written by Michael W. Toffel, Kira Fabrizio, Stephanie van Sice includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Energy Groom facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Forecasting, Growth strategy, Human resource management, International business, Manufacturing, Marketing, Research & development, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Sustainability, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Energy Groom, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Energy Groom 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Energy Groom
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 Energy Groom
Strengths Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Energy Groom in Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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
– Energy Groom 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Energy Groom is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Energy Groom is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Michael W. Toffel, Kira Fabrizio, Stephanie van Sice can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Energy Groom 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Energy Groom in the sector have low bargaining power. Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Energy Groom to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Energy Groom to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Energy Groom to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Energy Groom has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Energy Groom to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Energy Groom in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Energy Groom is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Energy Groom 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 Energy Groom in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Energy Groom
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Energy Groom does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency, in the dynamic environment Energy Groom has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Energy Groom has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Energy Groom 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Energy Groom 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Energy Groom, firm in the HBR case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency, it seems that the employees of Energy Groom 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency HBR case study mentions - Energy Groom 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Energy Groom 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Energy Groom 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Energy Groom has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Energy Groom 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 - Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Energy Groom 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.
Opportunities Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency | 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency are -
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 Energy Groom in the consumer business. Now Energy Groom can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Energy Groom can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Energy Groom 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. Energy Groom can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Energy Groom is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Energy Groom 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.
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 Energy Groom 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Energy Groom can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Energy Groom can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Energy Groom 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Energy Groom 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Energy Groom to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Energy Groom 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Energy Groom 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Energy Groom 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.
Threats Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Energy Groom with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Energy Groom 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.
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. Energy Groom 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Energy Groom 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.
Environmental challenges
– Energy Groom 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. Energy Groom can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Energy Groom needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Energy Groom has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Energy Groom 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Energy Groom 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency .
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 Energy Groom.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Energy Groom is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency, Energy Groom 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 .
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 Energy Groom in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency 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 Energy Groom needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.