Case Study Description of Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics
New legislation may require all appliance manufacturers and brand owners to take responsibility for end-of-life (EOL) collection and recycling of products. The senior manager government relations for Whirlpool Corporation (Whirlpool) was updating his colleagues on Ontario's proposed extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation. Whirlpool was the Canadian market share leader in household appliances such as clothes washers, dryers and cooking ranges. With EPR. Whirlpool, among others, would now have to manage - or pay to manage - a more complex model involving reverse logistics. Each appliance manufacturer had at least three options from which to choose: it could argue the legislation was unnecessary, it could join an industry-funded organization (IFO) to meet EPR's requirement, or it could set up its own IFO.
Swot Analysis of "Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics" written by Ken Mark, David A. Wood includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Whirlpool Ifo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain, Sustainability and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Whirlpool Ifo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Whirlpool Ifo 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Whirlpool Ifo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Whirlpool Ifo
Strengths Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Whirlpool Ifo in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Whirlpool Ifo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Whirlpool Ifo is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Whirlpool Ifo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Whirlpool Ifo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Whirlpool Ifo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Whirlpool Ifo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Whirlpool Ifo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Whirlpool Ifo 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 Ken Mark, David A. Wood 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Whirlpool Ifo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Training and development
– Whirlpool Ifo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Technology & Operations field
– Whirlpool Ifo 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 Whirlpool Ifo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Whirlpool Ifo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Whirlpool Ifo is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics, it seems that the employees of Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Whirlpool Ifo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Whirlpool Ifo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Whirlpool Ifo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Whirlpool Ifo 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 - Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Whirlpool Ifo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Whirlpool Ifo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Whirlpool Ifo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Ifo 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Whirlpool Ifo, firm in the HBR case study Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics | 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics are -
Buying journey improvements
– Whirlpool Ifo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Whirlpool Ifo in the consumer business. Now Whirlpool Ifo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Whirlpool Ifo 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Whirlpool Ifo 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 Whirlpool Ifo in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Whirlpool Ifo to increase its market reach. Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Whirlpool Ifo can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Whirlpool Ifo operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Whirlpool Ifo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Whirlpool Ifo 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. Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Whirlpool Ifo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Whirlpool Ifo to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics case study. Whirlpool Ifo 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, Whirlpool Ifo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Whirlpool Ifo 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, Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Whirlpool Ifo can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics are -
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Whirlpool Ifo can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Whirlpool Ifo.
Increasing wage structure of Whirlpool Ifo
– 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 Whirlpool Ifo.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Whirlpool Ifo is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Whirlpool Ifo in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Whirlpool Ifo 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Whirlpool Ifo 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Whirlpool Ifo 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. Whirlpool Ifo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Corporation: Reversing Logistics 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 Whirlpool Ifo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.