Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?
A utility company must replace an aging coal-fired power plant. Accordingly, management must develop an Integrated Resource Plan that carefully explores all reasonable options considering the varied interests of many stakeholders, including electricity users, regulators, environmentalists, and the community in which a new power plant will be built. State regulators require that the utility company minimize the costs to ratepayers, but costs are difficult to determine given the potential for high taxes on carbon emissions as well as volatile fuel costs during the multi-decade lifetime of the replacement. The analysis is further complicated by the differences in project risk associated with the different technologies. The senior vice-president must choose carefully, because he will be required to defend that choice to many varied and passionate stakeholders. A capital budget analysis should be conducted that takes into consideration the many uncertainties associated with this problem.
Authors :: Gary Clendenen, Paul W. Thurston, Fang Zhao, Stephen Kidwell
Swot Analysis of "Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?" written by Gary Clendenen, Paul W. Thurston, Fang Zhao, Stephen Kidwell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Varied Plant facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Sustainability and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Varied Plant, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Varied Plant 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Varied Plant
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 Varied Plant
Strengths Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Varied Plant in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Varied Plant 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Varied Plant is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Varied Plant to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Varied Plant to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Varied Plant in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Varied Plant 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Varied Plant has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Varied Plant 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.
Organizational Resilience of Varied Plant
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Varied Plant does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Varied Plant has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Varied Plant to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Varied Plant digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Varied Plant 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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.
Learning organization
- Varied Plant 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 Varied Plant is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Varied Plant in the sector have low bargaining power. Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Varied Plant to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?, in the dynamic environment Varied Plant has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Varied Plant has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?, is just above the industry average. Varied Plant needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Varied Plant, firm in the HBR case study Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Varied Plant 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. Varied Plant 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 Varied Plant is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Varied Plant needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Varied Plant to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Varied Plant 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 Varied Plant 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.
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 Varied Plant supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Varied Plant vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Varied Plant 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Varied Plant 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.
Opportunities Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? | 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? are -
Loyalty marketing
– Varied Plant 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Varied Plant in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Varied Plant 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Varied Plant to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Varied Plant 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Varied Plant can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Varied Plant to increase its market reach. Varied Plant 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 Varied Plant 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.
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 Varied Plant in the consumer business. Now Varied Plant can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Varied Plant 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, Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build?, 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 Varied Plant has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Varied Plant to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? case study. Varied Plant can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Varied Plant 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Varied Plant can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Varied Plant operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
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. Varied Plant 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. Varied Plant 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? are -
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 Varied Plant business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Varied Plant can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Varied Plant with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Varied Plant 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Varied Plant 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Varied Plant is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Varied Plant 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Varied Plant 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? .
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 Varied Plant in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Varied Plant has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Varied Plant needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Increasing wage structure of Varied Plant
– 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 Varied Plant.
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. Varied Plant needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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 Coal, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Oil, or Renewable: Which Type of Power Plant Should We Build? 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 Varied Plant needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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