What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure?
While global supply chains are expected to be lean, agile, and sustainable, they have also become the focus of growing attention from a variety of external stakeholders seeking information that includes and frequently exceeds what the company is legally obliged to disclose. In this article, the authors discuss the pressures on companies to disclose supply chain information, the drivers and impediments to such disclosure, and the types of supply chain information typically made available to the public. The article identifies the broad disclosure strategies companies can use to release supply chain information and offers managers guidance on designing the optimal disclosure strategy for their company. In addition to exploring the topic with examples from companies including Nike Inc., WD-40, and Patagonia Inc., the authors take a detailed look at how Apple's approach to supply chain disclosure has evolved since 2009. In considering how to manage supply chain information disclosure, the authors argue that managers must appreciate the diverse forces and actors driving and enabling this trend. Aside from internal governance and risk concerns, external pressure has come from government regulations, best practices of peers, changing expectations from salient stakeholder groups, and, of course, external events (such as the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh). The authors note that improving transparency can be expensive. The lack of standardized reporting systems, the absence of a common technology platform, ill-defined standards, and a lack of supplier education can also pose serious hindrances to companies wishing to improve their supply chain transparency. The authors identify four common types of supply chain information that tends to be publicly disclosed: supply chain membership, provenance of materials, environmental information, and information on social impacts such as working conditions. Based on their research, they developed a transparency matrix to frame four typical supply chain disclosure strategies: transparent, secret, distracting, and withheld. The authors say managers must understand the demands and respond in creative and meaningful ways without undermining the competitive advantage of their company. The tools and advice presented in the article can help managers navigate this complex and evolving area. This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article.
Authors :: Donna Marshall, Lucy McCarthy, Paul McGrath, Fiona Harrigan
Swot Analysis of "What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure?" written by Donna Marshall, Lucy McCarthy, Paul McGrath, Fiona Harrigan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Disclosure Supply facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Disclosure Supply, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Disclosure Supply 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Disclosure Supply
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 Disclosure Supply
Strengths What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Disclosure Supply in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Disclosure Supply is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Disclosure Supply to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Disclosure Supply to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Disclosure Supply is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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
– Disclosure Supply is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Disclosure Supply has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Disclosure Supply 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Disclosure Supply 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
– Disclosure Supply 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 Disclosure Supply in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Disclosure Supply has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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.
Organizational Resilience of Disclosure Supply
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Disclosure Supply does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Disclosure Supply 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Disclosure Supply in the sector have low bargaining power. What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Disclosure Supply to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure?, is just above the industry average. Disclosure Supply 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Disclosure Supply 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Disclosure Supply, firm in the HBR case study What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Disclosure Supply has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Disclosure Supply 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Disclosure Supply 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 - What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Disclosure Supply 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Disclosure Supply is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Disclosure Supply needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Disclosure Supply to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Disclosure Supply products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Disclosure Supply needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Disclosure Supply 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. Disclosure Supply 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? HBR case study mentions - Disclosure Supply 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.
Opportunities What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? | 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? are -
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. Disclosure Supply 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. Disclosure Supply 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Disclosure Supply is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Disclosure Supply can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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
– Disclosure Supply 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.
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 Disclosure Supply 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Disclosure Supply 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Disclosure Supply 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Disclosure Supply 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Disclosure Supply 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Disclosure Supply to increase its market reach. Disclosure Supply 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Disclosure Supply 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, Disclosure Supply can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Disclosure Supply operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Disclosure Supply in the consumer business. Now Disclosure Supply can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Disclosure Supply 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.
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 Disclosure Supply in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Disclosure Supply is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Disclosure Supply 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, Disclosure Supply 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? .
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 Disclosure Supply.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Disclosure Supply 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.
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. Disclosure Supply needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Disclosure Supply 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. Disclosure Supply can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Disclosure Supply
– 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 Disclosure Supply.
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. Disclosure Supply can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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 What's Your Strategy for Supply Chain Disclosure? 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 Disclosure Supply needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
