MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner
Accompanied by product #PON335A two-party, multi-issue negotiation between a farmer and a neighbor over the sale or lease of part of the neighbor's land A Vermont farmer somewhat interested in the possibility of expanding activities has considered going into maple syrup production, wood cutting, or increasing the farmer's cow herd. The farmer's neighbor is a person from Boston who only comes up on occasional weekends and holidays and is currently interested in selling or leasing at least part of the property. In preliminary discussions, the two have differed significantly on their assessments of the land owned by the Bostonian, but have agreed to meet and discuss the situation further. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner" written by Roger Fisher, Andrew Clarkson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Farmer's Neighbor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Farmer's Neighbor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Farmer's Neighbor
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 Farmer's Neighbor
Strengths MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Farmer's Neighbor in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Farmer's Neighbor in the sector have low bargaining power. MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Farmer's Neighbor to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Farmer's Neighbor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 Roger Fisher, Andrew Clarkson 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Farmer's Neighbor is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Farmer's Neighbor has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Farmer's Neighbor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Farmer's Neighbor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Farmer's Neighbor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Farmer's Neighbor 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 Farmer's Neighbor in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Farmer's Neighbor is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 Farmer's Neighbor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Farmer's Neighbor 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, it seems that the employees of Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Farmer's Neighbor, firm in the HBR case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner HBR case study mentions - Farmer's Neighbor takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on 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 Farmer's Neighbor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Farmer's Neighbor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Farmer's Neighbor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Farmer's Neighbor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Farmer's Neighbor to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner | 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Farmer's Neighbor has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Farmer's Neighbor to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner case study. Farmer's Neighbor can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Farmer's Neighbor can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Farmer's Neighbor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Farmer's Neighbor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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.
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 Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Farmer's Neighbor 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, MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, 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
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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. Farmer's Neighbor 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 Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner are -
Increasing wage structure of Farmer's Neighbor
– 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 Farmer's Neighbor.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Farmer's Neighbor with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Farmer's Neighbor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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. Farmer's Neighbor needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 Farmer's Neighbor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Farmer's Neighbor will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Farmer's Neighbor is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, Farmer's Neighbor 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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 Farmer's Neighbor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.