Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?
Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been widely identified as an emerging disruptive technology. This study examines how this technology could enable the circular economy by disrupting the existing materials value chain. Specifically, could this novel technology be used to locally manufacture new goods from local sources of recycled plastic waste, thereby offering benefits for the efficiency and effectiveness of materials cycling? This article uses the London metropolitan area--where system conditions already exist in the form of material flows, technology policy, and facilities--in order to assess 3D printing's viability as an enabler of a circular economy at the local level. An analysis of stakeholder perceptions identifies economic, technological, social, organizational, and regulatory barriers to mainstream implementation, and their likelihood of being overcome.
Authors :: Alysia Garmulewicz, Matthias Holweg, Hans Veldhuis, Aidong Yang
Swot Analysis of "Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?" written by Alysia Garmulewicz, Matthias Holweg, Hans Veldhuis, Aidong Yang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Circular 3d facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Sustainability, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Circular 3d, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Circular 3d 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Circular 3d
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Circular 3d
Strengths Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Circular 3d in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Circular 3d in the sector have low bargaining power. Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Circular 3d to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Circular 3d 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Circular 3d is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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.
High brand equity
– Circular 3d has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Circular 3d to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Circular 3d is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Circular 3d
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Circular 3d does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Circular 3d 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Circular 3d digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Circular 3d 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.
Learning organization
- Circular 3d 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 Circular 3d is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Circular 3d 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Circular 3d to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Circular 3d to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? are -
Need for greater diversity
– Circular 3d 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Circular 3d has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? HBR case study mentions - Circular 3d 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Alysia Garmulewicz, Matthias Holweg, Hans Veldhuis, Aidong Yang suggests that, Circular 3d 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 dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Circular 3d supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Circular 3d vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Circular 3d 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Circular 3d is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Circular 3d needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Circular 3d to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Circular 3d has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Circular 3d even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Circular 3d 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Circular 3d, firm in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?, it seems that the employees of Circular 3d 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.
Opportunities Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? | 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? are -
Loyalty marketing
– Circular 3d 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Circular 3d can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Circular 3d 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Circular 3d can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Circular 3d 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Circular 3d 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Circular 3d to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Circular 3d 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Circular 3d in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Circular 3d 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, Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Circular 3d to increase its market reach. Circular 3d 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Circular 3d 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Circular 3d can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Circular 3d in the consumer business. Now Circular 3d can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Circular 3d 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Circular 3d 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.
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. Circular 3d 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.
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 Circular 3d business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Circular 3d 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 Circular 3d.
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. Circular 3d needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Circular 3d
– 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 Circular 3d.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Circular 3d in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold?, Circular 3d may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Circular 3d has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Circular 3d needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Circular 3d 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Disruptive Technology as an Enabler of the Circular Economy: What Potential Does 3D Printing Hold? 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 Circular 3d needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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