City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam
Examines how the Tanzania government intends to address a pressing deterioration in the infrastructure and services of Dar es Salaam's Water and Sewage Authority. The decision process unfolds in the spring of 2002, on the heels of the Cochabamba uprising in Bolivia and an increasing dispute over the involvement of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank in other water development projects in Ghana, Mauritania, and South Africa. At that time, the World Bank was already sponsoring similar projects in Angola, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Rwanda Sao Tome, and Senegal, despite some vocal local opposition. Provides a rich and graphic account of the special threats and opportunities in the water sector--a wealth of complementary teaching resources can also stimulate larger debates by juxtaposing the decision with a broader crisis of confidence in for-profit solutions to water and sewage provision in Africa and Latin America.
Swot Analysis of "City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam" written by Oana Branzei, Kevin McKague includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Water Sewage facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Water Sewage, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Water Sewage 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Water Sewage
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 Water Sewage
Strengths City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Water Sewage in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Water Sewage is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 Water Sewage 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.
High brand equity
– Water Sewage has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Water Sewage to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Water Sewage in the sector have low bargaining power. City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Water Sewage to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Water Sewage 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 Water Sewage is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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.
Analytics focus
– Water Sewage 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 Oana Branzei, Kevin McKague 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Water Sewage is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Water Sewage 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
– Water Sewage 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Water Sewage to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Water Sewage to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Water Sewage digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Water Sewage 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.
Weaknesses City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Oana Branzei, Kevin McKague suggests that, Water Sewage 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, in the dynamic environment Water Sewage has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Water Sewage has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Water Sewage supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Water Sewage vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Water Sewage has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Water Sewage 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Water Sewage is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Water Sewage needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Water Sewage to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Water Sewage 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam HBR case study mentions - Water Sewage 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Water Sewage 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 - City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 Water Sewage has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Water Sewage 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.
Opportunities City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam | 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam are -
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 Water Sewage 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Water Sewage 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Water Sewage 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Water Sewage to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Water Sewage is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Water Sewage 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, City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Water Sewage 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Water Sewage can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Water Sewage operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Water Sewage can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Water Sewage 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Water Sewage 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.
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. Water Sewage can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Water Sewage can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Water Sewage 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.
Threats City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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. Water Sewage can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Water Sewage in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Water Sewage.
Environmental challenges
– Water Sewage 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. Water Sewage can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, Water Sewage may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Water Sewage with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Water Sewage needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Water Sewage is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Water Sewage has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Water Sewage 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.
Increasing wage structure of Water Sewage
– 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 Water Sewage.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Water Sewage 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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 Water Sewage needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.