MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
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 - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Farmer's Neighbor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Farmer's Neighbor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Farmer's Neighbor is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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
– 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.
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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Farmer's Neighbor in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Farmer's Neighbor 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 MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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 -
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Roger Fisher, Andrew Clarkson suggests that, Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Farmer's Neighbor has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner, is just above the industry average. Farmer's Neighbor 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Farmer's Neighbor 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. Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Farmer's Neighbor has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Farmer's Neighbor is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 -
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Farmer's Neighbor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM - Confidential Instructions for the Owner 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.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Farmer's Neighbor to increase its market reach. Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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. Farmer's Neighbor can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Farmer's Neighbor can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Farmer's Neighbor operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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. Farmer's Neighbor 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. Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Farmer's Neighbor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Farmer's Neighbor.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Farmer's Neighbor 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.