Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City
The case describes the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan that the City of Vancouver formally launched in 2011 and whose aim is to make Vancouver the greenest city on the planet. Gregor Robertson, mayor of Vancouver, is the main champion of the ambitious strategic plan. While he has had past success as a social entrepreneur and has implemented several green urban initiatives in his role as mayor, he struggles with some areas and aspects of the plan. Moreover, a recent report indicates that the reputation of the city has fallen. In the context of the imminent elections, Robertson is questioning the true value of the plan as a valid vehicle to improve the Vancouverites' quality of life and as a tool to attract voters.
Authors :: Pascual Berrone, Joan Enric Ricart Costa, Maria Luisa Blazquez
Swot Analysis of "Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City" written by Pascual Berrone, Joan Enric Ricart Costa, Maria Luisa Blazquez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Greenest Vancouver facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Greenest Vancouver, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Greenest Vancouver 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Greenest Vancouver
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 Greenest Vancouver
Strengths Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Greenest Vancouver in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Greenest Vancouver 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Greenest Vancouver 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Greenest Vancouver digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Greenest Vancouver 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Greenest Vancouver 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Greenest Vancouver 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 Greenest Vancouver is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Greenest Vancouver to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Greenest Vancouver to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Greenest Vancouver has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Greenest Vancouver in the sector have low bargaining power. Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Greenest Vancouver to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Greenest Vancouver has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Greenest Vancouver 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 Greenest Vancouver in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Greenest Vancouver has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Greenest Vancouver 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Greenest Vancouver is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City HBR case study mentions - Greenest Vancouver 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Greenest Vancouver is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Greenest Vancouver is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Greenest Vancouver needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Greenest Vancouver to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Greenest Vancouver 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Greenest Vancouver products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Greenest Vancouver needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Greenest Vancouver 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Greenest Vancouver, firm in the HBR case study Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Greenest Vancouver 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Greenest Vancouver has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Greenest Vancouver 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Greenest Vancouver 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City | 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Greenest Vancouver 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 Greenest Vancouver to increase its market reach. Greenest Vancouver 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Greenest Vancouver 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Greenest Vancouver 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 Greenest Vancouver to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Greenest Vancouver 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. Greenest Vancouver 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.
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 Greenest Vancouver 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Greenest Vancouver 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Greenest Vancouver can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Greenest Vancouver operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Greenest Vancouver has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Greenest Vancouver to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City case study. Greenest Vancouver can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Greenest Vancouver is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Greenest Vancouver 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Greenest Vancouver 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, Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Greenest Vancouver can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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. Greenest Vancouver 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 Greenest Vancouver.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Greenest Vancouver 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City .
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 Greenest Vancouver business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Greenest Vancouver is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Greenest Vancouver needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Greenest Vancouver has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Greenest Vancouver needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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. Greenest Vancouver can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Greenest Vancouver
– 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 Greenest Vancouver.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Greenest Vancouver 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.
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 Greenest Vancouver in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Greenest Vancouver 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Greenest Vancouver 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Vancouver: The Challenge of Becoming the Greenest City 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 Greenest Vancouver needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.