E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B)
DuPont must decide whether to launch a new non-GM (genetically modified) soybean that is tolerant to chemical sprays. In the face of rapid introductions of GM products by competitors, DuPont faces the challenge of ensuring the identity preservation of its new product through the agricultural distribution network. DuPont must choose the best business model to manage this large and unwieldy value chain.
Swot Analysis of "E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B)" written by Jonathan West, Christian G. Kasper includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dupont Gm facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption,
geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dupont Gm, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dupont Gm 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dupont Gm
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 Dupont Gm
Strengths E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dupont Gm in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dupont Gm in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dupont Gm to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dupont Gm to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Dupont Gm 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 Dupont Gm in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Dupont Gm has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Dupont Gm 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dupont Gm in the sector have low bargaining power. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dupont Gm to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dupont Gm is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dupont Gm digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dupont Gm 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 Dupont Gm 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dupont Gm 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Dupont Gm is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Dupont Gm is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Dupont Gm
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dupont Gm does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 Dupont Gm has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B), in the dynamic environment Dupont Gm has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dupont Gm has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dupont Gm 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dupont Gm is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Dupont Gm needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dupont Gm to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dupont Gm 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B), it seems that the employees of Dupont Gm 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jonathan West, Christian G. Kasper suggests that, Dupont Gm 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 Dupont Gm 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dupont Gm, firm in the HBR case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dupont Gm 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.
Opportunities E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) | 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dupont Gm is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Dupont Gm 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dupont Gm can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dupont Gm to increase its market reach. Dupont Gm 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dupont Gm 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 Dupont Gm to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Dupont Gm can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Dupont Gm 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.
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. Dupont Gm 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. Dupont Gm 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.
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 Dupont Gm in the consumer business. Now Dupont Gm can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dupont Gm can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dupont Gm operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dupont Gm can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dupont Gm 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dupont Gm has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dupont Gm to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) case study. Dupont Gm can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dupont Gm 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dupont Gm 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.
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 Dupont Gm in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Dupont Gm business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dupont Gm 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dupont Gm is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Dupont Gm needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dupont Gm in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Dupont Gm
– 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 Dupont Gm.
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. Dupont Gm can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B), Dupont Gm may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (B) 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 Dupont Gm needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.