Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy
Northern Drilling Inc., an exploration diamond-drilling contractor, has been asked to tender a bid for a lucrative, highly complex contract with Mond Nickel. Northern has no drills or crew currently available to work on the contract, which requires experienced drillers. Compounding the issue is a shortage of skilled labour in the industry. At the same time, Northern's biggest client, Noranda Nickel, is seeing poor geological results on a job in the same area. Northern's management needs to decide whether to incur additional costs and leave a capacity cushion in an effort to maintain its excellent relationship with its current client, or whether it should instead utilize the drills on the new job. The primary issue facing Northern's management is whether Northern can handle the new contract, both financially and technically, without compromising the current job.
Swot Analysis of "Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy" written by Michael Taylor, Robert Bremner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Northern's Nickel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Northern's Nickel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Northern's Nickel 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Northern's Nickel
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 Northern's Nickel
Strengths Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Northern's Nickel in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Northern's Nickel 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 Northern's Nickel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Northern's Nickel 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Northern's Nickel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Northern's Nickel 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Northern's Nickel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Northern's Nickel in the sector have low bargaining power. Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Northern's Nickel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Northern's Nickel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Northern's Nickel 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Northern's Nickel 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Northern's Nickel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Northern's Nickel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Northern's Nickel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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.
Training and development
– Northern's Nickel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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.
Weaknesses Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy are -
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 Northern's Nickel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Northern's Nickel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Taylor, Robert Bremner suggests that, Northern's Nickel is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Northern's Nickel 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 - Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern's Nickel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Northern's Nickel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern's Nickel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Northern's Nickel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Northern's Nickel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Northern's Nickel is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy, it seems that the employees of Northern's Nickel don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Northern's Nickel 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Northern's Nickel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Northern's Nickel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy | 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Northern's Nickel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Northern's Nickel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy case study. Northern's Nickel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Northern's Nickel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Northern's Nickel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Northern's Nickel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Northern's Nickel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Northern's Nickel 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.
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 Northern's Nickel 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Northern's Nickel 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Northern's Nickel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Northern's Nickel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Northern's Nickel 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 Northern's Nickel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Northern's Nickel 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, Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Northern's Nickel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Northern's Nickel 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.
Threats Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy are -
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. Northern's Nickel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Northern's Nickel in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Northern's Nickel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Northern's Nickel 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.
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. Northern's Nickel 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Northern's Nickel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Northern's Nickel 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Northern's Nickel is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Northern's Nickel 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.
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 Northern's Nickel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Northern's Nickel needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Northern's Nickel 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. Northern's Nickel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Northern's Nickel.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern Drilling Inc.: The Mond Nickel Contract Decision - A Tactical Dilemma in a Growth Strategy 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 Northern's Nickel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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