Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Communication
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement
In the lead-up to the United Nations' 2015 climate summit in Paris, excitement ran high and so did anxiety. Negotiators hoped for a new international agreement, the first such effort since the disappointing collapse of negotiations six years earlier in Copenhagen. But the text of the agreement was still subject to debate. This case focuses on the efforts of one mid-level participant in the process, Josefina Brana-Varela, policy director for Forests & Climate at WWF. Her focus: to try to ensure that forest protection received a specific mention in the Paris Agreement. Two years earlier, national delegates had added a set of rules and standards called the Warsaw Framework for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) to the international climate regime. Under this framework, developing countries could qualify for payment in exchange for reducing deforestation or forest damage, or for introducing practices such as sustainable forest management. But participation in the program was entirely voluntary. It remained to be seen whether developed countries would provide enough funding to make it work, and whether developing countries would be willing to adopt policies to measure and reduce deforestation and forest degradation. In this context, Brana-Varela thought it crucial that the Paris Agreement send a signal that delegates viewed forest preservation not a side concern, but as an objective as critical as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Some negotiators were leery of doing so, however, for an array of reasons. The case provides enough background for the reader to understand the tensions over this issue, then follows Brana-Varela, a one-time forest negotiator for Mexico, in her new role at WWF. The case shows the strategic choices of a respected, but not especially powerful, figure, as she tries to influence a complex international process. Case number 2118.0
Swot Analysis of "Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement" written by Pamela Varley, Robert Wilkinson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Forest Brana facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Leadership, Negotiations and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Forest Brana, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Forest Brana
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Forest Brana
Strengths Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Forest Brana in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Forest Brana in the sector have low bargaining power. Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Forest Brana to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Forest Brana 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.
Organizational Resilience of Forest Brana
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Forest Brana does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Forest Brana 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 Forest Brana in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Forest Brana 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 Pamela Varley, Robert Wilkinson 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Forest Brana in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Forest Brana 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 Forest Brana is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Forest Brana is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Forest Brana is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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.
Weaknesses Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Forest Brana 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Forest Brana 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Forest Brana is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Forest Brana needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Forest Brana to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Forest Brana 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. Forest Brana 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pamela Varley, Robert Wilkinson suggests that, Forest Brana 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, Forest Brana has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Communication 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement HBR case study mentions - Forest Brana 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 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 Forest Brana supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Forest Brana vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement, it seems that the employees of Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement | 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Forest Brana has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Forest Brana to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement case study. Forest Brana can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Forest Brana in the consumer business. Now Forest Brana can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Forest Brana can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Forest Brana operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Forest Brana 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. Forest Brana 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 Forest Brana can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Forest Brana 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Forest Brana 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Forest Brana can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Forest Brana 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Forest Brana can develop new processes and procedures in Communication 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Forest Brana 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Forest Brana 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 Forest Brana to increase its market reach. Forest Brana 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Forest Brana 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.
Threats Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement, Forest Brana may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Forest Brana is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Forest Brana 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. Forest Brana can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
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 Forest Brana.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Forest Brana 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.
Increasing wage structure of Forest Brana
– 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 Forest Brana.
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 Forest Brana in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Forest Brana 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Forest Brana has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Forest Brana needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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 Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Forest Brana can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Forest Brana can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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 Negotiating Toward the Paris Accords: WWF & the Role of Forests in the 2015 Climate Agreement 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 Forest Brana needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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