Case Study Description of Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth
A small startup firm in the environmental services industry has spent the majority of its time developing its technology and overcoming the significant regulatory hurdles involved in bringing its technology to market. Having achieved success with the technology, the company must now decide which path to take to grow. The owners can try to raise the money themselves through a bank loan and do the expansion on their own terms. On the other hand, they can forge a financial partnership with a venture capital firm or a strategic partnership with another firm, or they can issue preferred shares to a local investment fund or corporate bonds to a local insurance company. These alternatives will share the risks and expense of expansion, but the company may lose some autonomy in its decision making in future.
Swot Analysis of "Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth" written by Stephen Sapp includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Remediation Partnership facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Remediation Partnership, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Remediation Partnership 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Remediation Partnership
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 Remediation Partnership
Strengths Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Remediation Partnership in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Remediation Partnership 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Remediation Partnership is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Remediation Partnership has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Remediation Partnership 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Remediation Partnership to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Remediation Partnership to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Remediation Partnership has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Remediation Partnership is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Remediation Partnership
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Remediation Partnership does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Remediation Partnership 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 Remediation Partnership is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Remediation Partnership is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Remediation Partnership digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Remediation Partnership 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Remediation Partnership 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 Remediation Partnership in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Remediation Partnership 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. Remediation Partnership 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 Remediation Partnership is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Remediation Partnership needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Remediation Partnership to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Remediation Partnership 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 Remediation Partnership supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Remediation Partnership vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Remediation Partnership 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Remediation Partnership 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Remediation Partnership has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Remediation Partnership products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Remediation Partnership needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stephen Sapp suggests that, Remediation Partnership 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Remediation Partnership, firm in the HBR case study Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth, is just above the industry average. Remediation Partnership 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.
Opportunities Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth | 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Remediation Partnership to increase its market reach. Remediation Partnership 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Remediation Partnership 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Remediation Partnership 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Remediation Partnership 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Remediation Partnership 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Remediation Partnership 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Remediation Partnership 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, Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Remediation Partnership can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Remediation Partnership 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.
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. Remediation Partnership can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Remediation Partnership 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Remediation Partnership has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Remediation Partnership to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth case study. Remediation Partnership can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Remediation Partnership is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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.
Threats Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth are -
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Remediation Partnership 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Remediation Partnership 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth .
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 Remediation Partnership.
Environmental challenges
– Remediation Partnership 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. Remediation Partnership can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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. Remediation Partnership can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth, Remediation Partnership 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Remediation Partnership
– 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 Remediation Partnership.
Regulatory challenges
– Remediation Partnership needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Remediation Partnership 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.
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. Remediation Partnership needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Remediation Partnership business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Remediation Partnership 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Global Remediation: Funding Future Growth 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 Remediation Partnership needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.