Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry
This series of three cases shows how a newly appointed manager, with support of the parent company helps an MNC in the dairy industry renew and strengthen its leadership. The MNC becomes more market responsive and less fragmented A specific re-engineering project increases rationalization and product standardization The company launches a revolutionary product to regain true technological advantage.
Swot Analysis of "Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry" written by Yves L. Doz, Marie-Aude Dalsace includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mnc Dairy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mnc Dairy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mnc Dairy 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mnc Dairy
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 Mnc Dairy
Strengths Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mnc Dairy in Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mnc Dairy 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 Mnc Dairy in the sector have low bargaining power. Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mnc Dairy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Mnc Dairy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mnc Dairy does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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
– Mnc Dairy 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Mnc Dairy 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 Yves L. Doz, Marie-Aude Dalsace 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mnc Dairy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mnc Dairy 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Mnc Dairy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mnc Dairy 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mnc Dairy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Mnc Dairy 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
– Mnc Dairy 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 Mnc Dairy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mnc Dairy 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mnc Dairy is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mnc Dairy is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mnc Dairy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Mnc Dairy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mnc Dairy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mnc Dairy 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mnc Dairy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mnc Dairy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mnc Dairy 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mnc Dairy 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mnc Dairy 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 - Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Mnc Dairy 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yves L. Doz, Marie-Aude Dalsace suggests that, Mnc Dairy 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.
Opportunities Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry | 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mnc Dairy 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 Mnc Dairy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mnc Dairy 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mnc Dairy 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.
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. Mnc Dairy can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mnc Dairy can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mnc Dairy to increase its market reach. Mnc Dairy 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mnc Dairy can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mnc Dairy 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mnc Dairy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mnc Dairy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mnc Dairy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mnc Dairy 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, Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry, 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 Mnc Dairy 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.
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. Mnc Dairy 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. Mnc Dairy 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mnc Dairy 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.
Threats Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mnc Dairy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mnc Dairy needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mnc Dairy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Mnc Dairy.
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 Mnc Dairy business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mnc Dairy 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mnc Dairy 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.
Environmental challenges
– Mnc Dairy 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. Mnc Dairy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mnc Dairy 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry .
Increasing wage structure of Mnc Dairy
– 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 Mnc Dairy.
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.
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. Mnc Dairy 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Mnc Dairy 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Alfa Laval Agri (A): Keeping Leadership in the Dairy Industry 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 Mnc Dairy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.