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 - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
Organizational Resilience of Water Sewage
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Water Sewage does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
Training and development
– Water Sewage has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam 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.
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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Water Sewage 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 Water Sewage in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Water Sewage has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Water Sewage 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Water Sewage has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Water Sewage is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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 -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, is just above the industry average. Water Sewage 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Water Sewage 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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Water Sewage products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Water Sewage needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam, it seems that the employees of Water Sewage don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Water Sewage 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. Water Sewage even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities 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 -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Water Sewage to increase its market reach. Water Sewage 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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Water Sewage 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Water Sewage 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. Water Sewage 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.
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.
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. Water Sewage can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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 Water Sewage in the consumer business. Now Water Sewage can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Water Sewage 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Water Sewage can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 -
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Water Sewage 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.
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.
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. Water Sewage 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 Water Sewage 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.
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.
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.
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 .
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 Water Sewage business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Water Sewage 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 City Water Tanzania (A): Water Partnerships for Dar es Salaam .
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.
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.
