Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs
Costs relating to companies' impact on the environment are increasing at a dramatic rate. Thus, managing, measuring, and reporting of these costs has become an important issue for managers. Accounting for environmental responsibilities is one of the largest and most challenging issues facing accountants today. This case provides an example of how one company is reacting to the increased pressures for environmental responsibility and how environmental responsibilities affect management accounting, financial reporting, and management control.
Authors :: Mary E. Barth, Marc J. Epstein, Richard D. Stark
Swot Analysis of "Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs" written by Mary E. Barth, Marc J. Epstein, Richard D. Stark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Environmental Responsibilities facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Environmental Responsibilities, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Environmental Responsibilities 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Environmental Responsibilities
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Environmental Responsibilities
Strengths Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Environmental Responsibilities in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Environmental Responsibilities has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Environmental Responsibilities 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 Environmental Responsibilities in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Environmental Responsibilities is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Environmental Responsibilities 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 Environmental Responsibilities has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Environmental Responsibilities to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Environmental Responsibilities to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Environmental Responsibilities digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Environmental Responsibilities is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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.
High brand equity
– Environmental Responsibilities has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Environmental Responsibilities to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Environmental Responsibilities 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 Mary E. Barth, Marc J. Epstein, Richard D. Stark 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.
Weaknesses Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs, it seems that the employees of Environmental Responsibilities 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Environmental Responsibilities is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Environmental Responsibilities has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on 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 Environmental Responsibilities supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Environmental Responsibilities vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Environmental Responsibilities is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Environmental Responsibilities needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Environmental Responsibilities to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mary E. Barth, Marc J. Epstein, Richard D. Stark suggests that, Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Environmental Responsibilities is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs HBR case study mentions - Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Environmental Responsibilities 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. Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Opportunities Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs | 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Environmental Responsibilities can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Environmental Responsibilities can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Environmental Responsibilities 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 Environmental Responsibilities to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Environmental Responsibilities 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 Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Environmental Responsibilities can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Environmental Responsibilities to increase its market reach. Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Environmental Responsibilities can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Environmental Responsibilities is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Environmental Responsibilities can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Environmental Responsibilities can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Environmental Responsibilities operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Environmental Responsibilities 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. Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Threats Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Environmental Responsibilities 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Environmental Responsibilities in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs, Environmental Responsibilities may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Increasing wage structure of Environmental Responsibilities
– 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 Environmental Responsibilities.
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 Environmental Responsibilities in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Environmental Responsibilities can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Environmental Responsibilities.
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. Environmental Responsibilities needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Environmental Responsibilities with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Environmental Responsibilities 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Polaroid: Managing Environmental Responsibilities and Their Costs 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 Environmental Responsibilities needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.