SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid
The case tells the story of SGFE Cambodia and its CEO, Carlo Figa Talamanca, in the period 2011-14. Talamanca has the opportunity to take over the struggling SGFE. Created by the NGO GERES to reduce deforestation in Cambodia, SGFE produces and sells char briquettes. They compete with traditional charcoal, which is mainly derived from illegal forest exploitation. Although superior, the briquettes are also more expensive, and are not well known by consumers. The question is how to penetrate the market at low cost, and how to position the products. Another question is whether SGFE can realistically achieve the social and environmental objectives of the company. Case B describes SGFE's subsequent commercial success. Getting the public to know the products was the major hurdle, but now that this step has been achieved, demand exceeds supply. Interestingly, it is the low-income vendors, at the bottom of the pyramid, who are the biggest consumers of this more expensive product. However, the social impact of SGFE is minimal and the deforestation of Cambodia continues.
Swot Analysis of "SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid" written by Philip Parker, Xavier How-Choong includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sgfe Cambodia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sgfe Cambodia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sgfe Cambodia 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sgfe Cambodia
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 Sgfe Cambodia
Strengths SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sgfe Cambodia in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Sgfe Cambodia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sgfe Cambodia 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Sgfe Cambodia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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.
Learning organization
- Sgfe Cambodia 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 Sgfe Cambodia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sgfe Cambodia 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Sgfe Cambodia 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 Philip Parker, Xavier How-Choong 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.
Organizational Resilience of Sgfe Cambodia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sgfe Cambodia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Sgfe Cambodia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sgfe Cambodia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sgfe Cambodia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Sgfe Cambodia 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 Sgfe Cambodia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sgfe Cambodia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sgfe Cambodia 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sgfe Cambodia 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. Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid HBR case study mentions - Sgfe Cambodia takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 Sgfe Cambodia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sgfe Cambodia, firm in the HBR case study SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 Sgfe Cambodia 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sgfe Cambodia 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid | 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid are -
Manufacturing automation
– Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sgfe Cambodia 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.
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. Sgfe Cambodia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Sgfe Cambodia in the consumer business. Now Sgfe Cambodia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sgfe Cambodia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sgfe Cambodia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sgfe Cambodia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sgfe Cambodia 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 Sgfe Cambodia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sgfe Cambodia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sgfe Cambodia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid case study. Sgfe Cambodia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sgfe Cambodia 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sgfe Cambodia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sgfe Cambodia in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid are -
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. Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sgfe Cambodia is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Sgfe Cambodia.
Environmental challenges
– Sgfe Cambodia 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. Sgfe Cambodia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Sgfe Cambodia
– 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 Sgfe Cambodia.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sgfe Cambodia 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.
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 Sgfe Cambodia 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 Sgfe Cambodia 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sgfe Cambodia 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.
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 Sgfe Cambodia 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Sgfe Cambodia 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 SGFE Cambodia (A): High-energy Char Briquettes for the Bottom of the Pyramid 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 Sgfe Cambodia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
