FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?

This case analysis traces the establishment and subsequent operation of FIJI Water LLC and its bottling subsidiary, Natural Waters of Viti Limited, the first company in Fiji extracting, bottling and marketing, both domestically and internationally, artesian water coming from a virgin ecosystem found on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. The case reviews the growth and market expansion of this highly successful company with the brand name FIJI Natural Artesian Water (FIJI Water). The company has grown rapidly over the past decade and a half, and now exports bottled water into many countries in the world from its production plant located in the Fiji Islands. In 2008, FIJI Water was the leading imported bottled water brand in the United States. In the context of great marketing success of the FIJI brand, particularly in the U.S. market, the case focuses on how the company has responded to a number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, including measuring and reducing its carbon footprint, responsibilities to key stakeholders, and concerns of the Fiji government with regard to taxation and transfer pricing issues. The case provides a compelling illustration of how CSR challenges may jeopardize the sustainability of a clever marketing strategy.

Authors :: James McMaster, Jan Nowak

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: International business, Marketing, Pricing, Social responsibility, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?" written by James McMaster, Jan Nowak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fiji Water facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing, Pricing, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Global Business.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fiji Water, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fiji Water 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fiji Water
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fiji Water

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Strengths FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Fiji Water in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? Harvard Business Review case study are -

Training and development

– Fiji Water has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Fiji Water 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.

Analytics focus

– Fiji Water 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 James McMaster, Jan Nowak 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Fiji Water is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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

– Fiji Water is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Fiji Water 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to lead change in Global Business field

– Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Learning organization

- Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Fiji Water in the sector have low bargaining power. FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fiji Water to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Fiji Water 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Fiji Water is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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

– Fiji Water has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fiji Water 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.

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Weaknesses FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Fiji Water 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Fiji Water 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fiji Water is planning to shift buying processes online.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fiji Water 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Fiji Water has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? HBR case study mentions - Fiji Water 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Fiji Water 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Fiji Water, firm in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fiji Water 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. Fiji Water even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 Fiji Water has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.

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Opportunities FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fiji Water can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fiji Water can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fiji Water operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.

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 Fiji Water in the consumer business. Now Fiji Water can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fiji Water 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, Fiji Water 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

– Fiji Water 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.

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 Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fiji Water to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study. Fiji Water can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fiji Water can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Manufacturing automation

– Fiji Water can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Fiji Water can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Fiji Water 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 Global Business segment.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fiji Water in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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Threats FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fiji Water can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Increasing wage structure of Fiji Water

– 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 Fiji Water.

Regulatory challenges

– Fiji Water 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 Global Business industry regulations.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Fiji Water has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fiji Water needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.

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 Fiji Water.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Fiji Water 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.

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.

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 Fiji Water business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fiji Water 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Fiji Water demand

– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

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. Fiji Water 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fiji Water in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 Fiji Water needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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