Case Study Description of Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook
Facebook's director of policy communications was faced with a situation caused by a YouTube video posted by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Greenpeace. This video publicly critiqued the environmental sustainability of Facebook's decision to build a new data center, its main objection being the fact that the new facility would be connected to a local utility provider that supplied electricity mainly from the burning of coal, one of the largest sources of global warming. This video was only the latest of a series of actions, commenced by Greenpeace eight months earlier, immediately following Facebook's decision to build the new facility. Greenpeace had dubbed these actions the "Unfriend Coal Campaign," which now had 500,000 followers and had generated numerous media stories. Greenpeace's goal was to pressure Facebook into adopting cleaner energy policies by leveraging Facebook's own social media against the company. As Facebook had no plans to stop building the facility, the director needed to figure out the best course of action for Facebook to take in response to the mounting pressure from Greenpeace in order to alleviate the increasingly negative attention from media and consumers.
Authors :: Paul Bigus, Michael Sider
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Leadership, Operations management, Organizational culture, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook" written by Paul Bigus, Michael Sider includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Facebook's Greenpeace facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Operations management, Organizational culture, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Facebook's Greenpeace, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Facebook's Greenpeace
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 Facebook's Greenpeace
Strengths Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Facebook's Greenpeace in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Paul Bigus, Michael Sider 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 Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook - 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
– Facebook's Greenpeace has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Facebook's Greenpeace is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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
– Facebook's Greenpeace is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Facebook's Greenpeace digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Facebook's Greenpeace has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Facebook's Greenpeace in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Facebook's Greenpeace is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Facebook's Greenpeace is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Facebook's Greenpeace to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Facebook's Greenpeace to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Facebook's Greenpeace has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook, it seems that the employees of Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Facebook's Greenpeace is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook, is just above the industry average. Facebook's Greenpeace needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Facebook's Greenpeace 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Facebook's Greenpeace 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. Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Facebook's Greenpeace 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 - Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Facebook's Greenpeace, firm in the HBR case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Facebook's Greenpeace has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook | 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Facebook's Greenpeace can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Facebook's Greenpeace operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Facebook's Greenpeace is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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.
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 Facebook's Greenpeace 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
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
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 Facebook's Greenpeace in the consumer business. Now Facebook's Greenpeace can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Facebook's Greenpeace can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Facebook's Greenpeace 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, Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Facebook's Greenpeace to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook are -
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.
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. Facebook's Greenpeace can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Facebook's Greenpeace in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 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. Facebook's Greenpeace needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Facebook's Greenpeace
– 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 Facebook's Greenpeace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook, Facebook's Greenpeace 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Facebook's Greenpeace 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
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Environmental challenges
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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. Facebook's Greenpeace can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Facebook's Greenpeace is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
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. Facebook's Greenpeace 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Greenpeace's Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook 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 Facebook's Greenpeace needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
