Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana
Burro was a growing start-up in Ghana with a mission to provide "tools for a better life" to Ghanaians by distributing products that addressed local needs. In February 2015, after seven years of operation, the company had finally become profitable. Demand for Burro's sustainable products was growing quickly in the booming Ghanaian market. The country manager wanted to determine a strategy for growth to maximize the success of Burro's future.
Swot Analysis of "Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana" written by Nicole R.D. Haggerty, Francis Ayensu, Amy Lin, Caleb Chan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Burro Burro's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Growth strategy, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Burro Burro's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Burro Burro's 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Burro Burro's
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 Burro Burro's
Strengths Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Burro Burro's in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Burro Burro's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Burro Burro's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Burro Burro's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Burro Burro's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Burro Burro's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Burro Burro's 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Burro Burro's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Burro Burro's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Burro Burro's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Burro Burro's 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Burro Burro's in the sector have low bargaining power. Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Burro Burro's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Burro Burro's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 recruit top talent
– Burro Burro's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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
– Burro Burro's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Burro Burro's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Burro Burro's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Burro Burro's 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Burro Burro's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana, in the dynamic environment Burro Burro's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Burro Burro's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro Burro's 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana HBR case study mentions - Burro Burro's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Burro Burro's 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 Burro Burro's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Burro Burro's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Burro Burro's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Burro Burro's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Burro Burro's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Burro Burro's 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 - Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Burro Burro's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana | 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Burro Burro's 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.
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. Burro Burro's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Burro Burro's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Burro Burro's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana case study. Burro Burro's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Burro Burro's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Burro Burro's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Burro Burro's 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Burro Burro's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Burro Burro's to increase its market reach. Burro Burro's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Burro Burro's 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.
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 Burro Burro's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Burro Burro's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Burro Burro's 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.
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 Burro Burro's in the consumer business. Now Burro Burro's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Burro Burro's 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 Burro Burro's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Burro Burro's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Burro Burro's 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.
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. Burro Burro's 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.
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 Burro Burro's in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Burro Burro's 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
– Burro Burro's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Burro Burro's
– 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 Burro Burro's.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Burro Burro's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Burro Burro's 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.
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 Burro Burro's.
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 Burro Burro's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana, Burro Burro's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Regulatory challenges
– Burro Burro's 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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. Burro Burro's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro: Tools for a Better Life in Ghana 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 Burro Burro's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
