Case Study Description of Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd.
Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. (Comfort) was a remote-site food service company based in Oakville, Ontario. The chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Comfort was preparing a bid for the catering, housekeeping, and janitorial services for the Gregory Mine, an iron ore mine owned by Yellowstone Mining and located 320 kilometres north of Yukon, Canada. The remote food services industry involved a highly competitive bidding (often closed) process. Revenues in the industry had declined by 30 per cent in 2015 due to a weak global economy, and a subsequent downturn had occurred in natural resource commodity prices. The CEO must work through the financial analysis before deciding on whether to submit a bid.
Swot Analysis of "Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd." written by Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jimmy Wang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Comfort Remote facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Comfort Remote, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Comfort Remote 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Comfort Remote
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 Comfort Remote
Strengths Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Comfort Remote in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Comfort Remote is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Comfort Remote has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Comfort Remote to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Comfort Remote in the sector have low bargaining power. Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Comfort Remote to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Comfort Remote is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Comfort Remote 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Comfort Remote in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Comfort Remote is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jimmy Wang can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Diverse revenue streams
– Comfort Remote is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Comfort Remote to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Comfort Remote to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Comfort Remote digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Comfort Remote 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.
Organizational Resilience of Comfort Remote
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Comfort Remote does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Comfort Remote 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 Comfort Remote is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Comfort Remote is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Comfort Remote products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Comfort Remote needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Comfort Remote 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Comfort Remote has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd., it seems that the employees of Comfort Remote 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Comfort Remote 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. Comfort Remote 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Comfort Remote is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Comfort Remote needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Comfort Remote to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd., in the dynamic environment Comfort Remote has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Comfort Remote has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jimmy Wang suggests that, Comfort Remote 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Comfort Remote 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Comfort Remote 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.
Opportunities Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. | 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Comfort Remote 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Comfort Remote 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Comfort Remote 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Comfort Remote to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Comfort Remote 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, Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd., to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Comfort Remote has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Comfort Remote to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. case study. Comfort Remote can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Comfort Remote 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. Comfort Remote 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Comfort Remote can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Comfort Remote can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Comfort Remote 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Comfort Remote 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Comfort Remote can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Comfort Remote operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Comfort Remote to increase its market reach. Comfort Remote 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.
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 Comfort Remote 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.
Threats Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Comfort Remote is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Comfort Remote can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Comfort Remote 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Comfort Remote 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd., Comfort Remote 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 .
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 Comfort Remote.
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 Comfort Remote 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Comfort Remote 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.
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. Comfort Remote needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People 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 Comfort Remote business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Comfort Remote 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote Site Services Ltd. 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 Comfort Remote needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.