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Black River Farms SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Black River Farms


In 2016, the owner of a cow-calf operation must decide what the appropriate weight for cows in their herd is. For decades, the national trend has been for cow weights to increase because they produce larger calves, but evidence indicates that cow weights may have reached the point where the cost of maintaining a larger cow has become greater than the return from producing a larger calf. Analyzing this issue introduces marginal principles from economics. Formerly "Old Mule Farms," product no. 9B10B004. The authors David M. Currie and Kyle S. Meyer are affiliated with Rollins College.

Authors :: David Currie, Kyle S. Meyer

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Black River Farms" written by David Currie, Kyle S. Meyer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cow Calf facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Black River Farms case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Black River Farms casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Black River Farms


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Black River Farms case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cow Calf, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cow Calf 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 Black River Farms can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Black River Farms case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cow Calf
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cow Calf




Strengths Black River Farms | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cow Calf in Black River Farms Harvard Business Review case study are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cow Calf 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 Black River Farms - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Cow Calf 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship field

– Cow Calf 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 Cow Calf 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

– Cow Calf has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cow Calf has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Strong track record of project management

– Cow Calf is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Cow Calf 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 Black River Farms HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Learning organization

- Cow Calf 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 Cow Calf is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Black River Farms Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High brand equity

– Cow Calf has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cow Calf to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– Black River Farms firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cow Calf to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cow Calf to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Black River Farms 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 Cow Calf 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Cow Calf in the sector have low bargaining power. Black River Farms has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cow Calf to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Black River Farms | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Black River Farms are -

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Black River Farms, it seems that the employees of Cow Calf 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Cow Calf 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Black River Farms, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Cow Calf 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 - Black River Farms should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Black River Farms HBR case study mentions - Cow Calf 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Cow Calf products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cow Calf needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, David Currie, Kyle S. Meyer suggests that, Cow Calf 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cow Calf 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Black River Farms 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 Cow Calf has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Cow Calf 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Black River Farms, in the dynamic environment Cow Calf has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cow Calf has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.




Opportunities Black River Farms | 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 Black River Farms are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Cow Calf can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cow Calf can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cow Calf 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. Cow Calf 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cow Calf 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cow Calf has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cow Calf to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Black River Farms case study. Cow Calf can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Cow Calf 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cow Calf can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Buying journey improvements

– Cow Calf can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Black River Farms 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cow Calf in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Loyalty marketing

– Cow Calf 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cow Calf 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.

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 Cow Calf in the consumer business. Now Cow Calf can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Cow Calf 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.




Threats Black River Farms External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Black River Farms are -

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.

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. Cow Calf 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cow Calf 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.

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 Cow Calf 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.

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. Cow Calf needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Cow Calf 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cow Calf with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cow Calf 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 Black River Farms .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Cow Calf has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cow Calf needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Increasing wage structure of Cow Calf

– 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 Cow Calf.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cow Calf can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Cow Calf business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Black River Farms 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 Black River Farms 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 Black River Farms 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 Black River Farms 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 Black River Farms 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 Cow Calf needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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