Case Study Description of Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited
Mohammed Uhuru Kadhi, director of strategy and business development of Consumer's Choice Limited (CCL), was contemplating the changes expected to be caused by the new Excise Duty Act (2015), which was awaiting the assent of Kenya's president. The new act would remove the excise duty on denatured alcohol used in the manufacture of cooking gel. CCL and other stakeholder organizations had been pushing for the duty's abolition for about three years. On that journey, they had learned several lessons that were worthwhile to other institutions and individuals involved in policy and regulatory changes aimed at improving the business environment in east Africa.Given the current high excise duty in Kenya, CCL used to transport denatured alcohol from western Kenya to a factory that manufactured the cooking gel in Moshi, Tanzania, a 600 kilometer journey. The factory subsequently exported most of the cooking gel back to Kenya for sale. The factory also had its own branded cooking stoves, sold in both Tanzania and Kenya. Recently, CCL had designed its own cooking-gel stoves and had them manufactured in China. The stoves could use the cooking gel from several suppliers, including that from the factory in Tanzania.In 2013, CCL and a group of other stakeholder organizations promoting the use of cooking gel and stoves started engaging with the Kenyan government to remove the exercise duty on denatured alcohol. Most of the discussions with the government highlighted the positive environmental benefits of using cooking gel instead of kerosene, wood, charcoal, etc. The removal of excise duty would also be create a business opportunity since it would make it profitable to manufacture the cooking gel in Kenya.Now, in December 2015, with the Excise Duty Bill in its final stages toward approval, Kadhi could not only reflect back on the almost-two-year journey but also contemplate on the future business opportunities. However, all this depended on whether the Kenyan parliament would agree to make the changes to the bill that had been requested by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Swot Analysis of "Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited" written by Edward Mungai, Ahmad Rahnema includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gel Cooking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Marketing, Policy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gel Cooking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gel Cooking 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gel Cooking
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 Gel Cooking
Strengths Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gel Cooking in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Gel Cooking 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gel Cooking 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Gel Cooking has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gel Cooking to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gel Cooking is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gel Cooking has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gel Cooking has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Innovation driven organization
– Gel Cooking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Gel Cooking is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gel Cooking 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gel Cooking digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gel Cooking 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.
Analytics focus
– Gel Cooking 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 Edward Mungai, Ahmad Rahnema 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.
Organizational Resilience of Gel Cooking
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gel Cooking does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gel Cooking is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Gel Cooking 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gel Cooking 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Gel Cooking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Gel Cooking needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gel Cooking to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited, it seems that the employees of Gel Cooking 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
Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gel Cooking needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gel Cooking 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. Gel Cooking 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gel Cooking 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.
Opportunities Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited | 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gel Cooking to increase its market reach. Gel Cooking will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gel Cooking 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gel Cooking can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gel Cooking 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.
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. Gel Cooking can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gel Cooking 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gel Cooking to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Gel Cooking to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Gel Cooking 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gel Cooking is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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.
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 Gel Cooking 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Gel Cooking 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, Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Gel Cooking 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. Gel Cooking 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.
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 Gel Cooking in the consumer business. Now Gel Cooking can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited are -
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 Gel Cooking.
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.
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. Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Gel Cooking 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. Gel Cooking 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 Gel Cooking with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Gel Cooking
– 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 Gel Cooking.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gel Cooking in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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. Gel Cooking needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gel Cooking has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gel Cooking 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Engagement to Change Public-Private Policy: Consumer's Choice Limited 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 Gel Cooking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
