International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program
Chronicles International Paper from 1957 to 2001 in its transition from a company with a unique focus on forest products to one that embraced land management practices and fostered recreational and wildlife uses of forestlands. In 2001, International Paper (IP) was a billion-dollar global paper and forest products company with stewardship over 12 million acres of private forestlands in the United States. IP's foray into land management was spearheaded in 1983 by forester and biologist Tom Bourland. Describes Bourland's first business plan for leasing recreational opportunities (hunting and camping) on IP land, IP's forestry management practices, revenues from recreation and, in 2001, new challenges facing the company: providing support for environmental management programs in the face of declining demand for hunting areas and increased demand for forest products that meet various environmental criteria.
Swot Analysis of "International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program" written by Terry Anderson, J. Bishop Grewell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Forestlands Ip's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program casestudy better are - – technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Forestlands Ip's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Forestlands Ip's 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Forestlands Ip's
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 Forestlands Ip's
Strengths International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Forestlands Ip's in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Forestlands Ip's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Forestlands Ip's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Forestlands Ip's 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 Terry Anderson, J. Bishop Grewell 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.
Training and development
– Forestlands Ip's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Forestlands Ip's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Forestlands Ip's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Forestlands Ip's 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 Forestlands Ip's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Forestlands Ip's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Forestlands Ip's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Forestlands Ip's in the sector have low bargaining power. International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Forestlands Ip's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Forestlands Ip's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Forestlands Ip's 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.
High brand equity
– Forestlands Ip's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Forestlands Ip's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Forestlands Ip's 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Forestlands Ip's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program are -
Need for greater diversity
– Forestlands Ip's 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, in the dynamic environment Forestlands Ip's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Forestlands Ip's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Forestlands Ip's 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
Forestlands Ip's 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, is just above the industry average. Forestlands Ip's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 Forestlands Ip's 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Forestlands Ip's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Forestlands Ip's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Forestlands Ip's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Forestlands Ip's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Forestlands Ip's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Forestlands Ip's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Forestlands Ip's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program | 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Forestlands Ip's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Forestlands Ip's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Forestlands Ip's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Forestlands Ip's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Forestlands Ip's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Forestlands Ip's 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, International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, 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 Forestlands Ip's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Forestlands Ip's to increase its market reach. Forestlands Ip's 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.
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 Forestlands Ip's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Forestlands Ip's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Loyalty marketing
– Forestlands Ip's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Forestlands Ip's 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. Forestlands Ip's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Forestlands Ip's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Forestlands Ip's 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Forestlands Ip's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program are -
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. Forestlands Ip's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Forestlands Ip's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Forestlands Ip's demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Forestlands Ip's 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program .
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.
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. Forestlands Ip's 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.
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 Forestlands Ip's.
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 Forestlands Ip's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 Forestlands Ip's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline 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. Forestlands Ip's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Forestlands Ip's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program, Forestlands Ip's 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 International Paper's Wildlife and Recreation Program 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 Forestlands Ip's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
