Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef
Beef production is not sustainable, but it can and should be. Large scale commercial beef farming imposes tremendous negative impacts on the environment by polluting the air, water, and soil. In contrast, sustainable farming uses responsible practices that protect the environment for future generations. But, are consumers really interested in sustainable beef? When consuming sustainable beef products, most reactions by consumers are: they taste great; they are produced without destroying the environment or threatening public health; and their sales support responsible farmers who choose to use sound agricultural practices. Thus, if a sustainable farm wanted to promote one of its beef products, and it had to choose between "grass-fed", "pasture-raised" or "organic" beef, which one would it choose, at what cost, and at what risk? Such a decision is difficult without knowing analytics. So, can business analytics be used to evaluate such a business decision? This case is about making hard decisions involving sustainability products, for which business analytics can play a significant role. The intent is also to educate the reader about sustainability and sustainable beef. The case introduces an entrepreneurial start-up that consistently and successfully promotes sustainable farming, and it's their emphasis on sustainability that makes the company unique and successful. The decisions involve the sustainability "stamps" assigned to beef products. One may recognize some of these stamps, such as the "organic" brand. The farm in the case produces a variety of sustainable products, but it is thinking about a marketing campaign to promote one of its product stamps. But, which one? That is a hard decision, and it is where business analytics can play a role. Before we launch into the "meat" of the case, some background on sustainability and sustainable beef would be useful.
Swot Analysis of "Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef" written by Dennis F.X. Mathaisel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Beef Sustainable facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Forecasting, Pricing, Risk management, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beef Sustainable, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beef Sustainable 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beef Sustainable
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 Beef Sustainable
Strengths Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Beef Sustainable in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Beef Sustainable has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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.
Organizational Resilience of Beef Sustainable
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Beef Sustainable does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Beef Sustainable is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Beef Sustainable is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Beef Sustainable 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Beef Sustainable is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Beef Sustainable 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 Beef Sustainable in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Beef Sustainable 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 Beef Sustainable is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Beef Sustainable 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Beef Sustainable is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Beef Sustainable in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Beef Sustainable, firm in the HBR case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Beef Sustainable 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Beef Sustainable is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef, is just above the industry average. Beef Sustainable needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Beef Sustainable 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Beef Sustainable 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef, it seems that the employees of Beef Sustainable 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Beef Sustainable 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Beef Sustainable products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Beef Sustainable 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, Dennis F.X. Mathaisel suggests that, Beef Sustainable 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Beef Sustainable is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Beef Sustainable needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Beef Sustainable to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef | 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef are -
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. Beef Sustainable 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. Beef Sustainable 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Beef Sustainable 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Beef Sustainable 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Beef Sustainable is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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.
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. Beef Sustainable can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Beef Sustainable 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Beef Sustainable can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Beef Sustainable 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.
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. Beef Sustainable can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Beef Sustainable can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Beef Sustainable operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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 Beef Sustainable in the consumer business. Now Beef Sustainable can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Beef Sustainable 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, Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Beef Sustainable 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.
Threats Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef are -
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. Beef Sustainable needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Beef Sustainable business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Beef Sustainable 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.
Environmental challenges
– Beef Sustainable needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Beef Sustainable can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Beef Sustainable with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Beef Sustainable has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Beef Sustainable 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.
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. Beef Sustainable can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Beef Sustainable is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Beef Sustainable 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 Beef Sustainable in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Beef Sustainable 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.
Increasing wage structure of Beef Sustainable
– 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 Beef Sustainable.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Analytics for Sustainable Products: The Case of Sustainable Beef 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 Beef Sustainable needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
