E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A)
This case describes E+Co's approach to promoting clean energy entrepreneurship in developing countries and its current strategic challenge; how to scale up its business model to reach 100 million unserved or underserved people in the developing world by 2020. In the last 12 years E+Co was successful at demonstrating and validating an "enterprise centered model" which offered reliable access and improved energy efficiency to the poor in emerging economies. Its approach to bringing the poor up the modern energy ladder, one step at a time, was initiated in response to a challenging project for the Rockerfeller Foundation, marked by a radical departure from the top-down, large scale infrastructure projects sponsored by international institutions. So far, these models had left 2.5 million people trapped into the double bind of energy poverty and energy waste. E+Co's approach was working well; by September 2006 it had invested in 138 enterprises in 30 countries. These local entrepreneurs currently provided clean energy to more than three million people. The next issue was scaling it all up; however, this risked straining the resources of E+Co's global team of 38 employees and could change the services the company provided to local entrepreneurs. Tenfold expansion within these constraints required an innovative growth strategy. Supplemental case, E+Co: The Path to Scale (B), product 907M55, presents a set of entrepreneurial growth strategies that preserve the core of the model.
Swot Analysis of "E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A)" written by Oana Branzei, Kevin McKague includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Energy Co's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Social responsibility and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Energy Co's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Energy Co's 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Energy Co's
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 Energy Co's
Strengths E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Energy Co's in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Energy Co's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Energy Co's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Energy Co's in the sector have low bargaining power. E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Energy Co's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Energy Co's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Energy Co's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Energy Co's 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Energy Co's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Energy Co's 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Energy Co's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Energy Co's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Energy Co's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Energy Co's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Energy Co's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Energy Co's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Energy Co's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Energy Co's 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Energy Co's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A), is just above the industry average. Energy Co's 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Energy Co's 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. Energy Co's 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 Energy Co's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Energy Co's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Energy Co's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Oana Branzei, Kevin McKague suggests that, Energy Co's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Energy Co's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Energy Co's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A), 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 Energy Co's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Energy Co's 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
Energy Co's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) HBR case study mentions - Energy Co's 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.
Opportunities E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) | 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Energy Co's 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.
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 Energy Co's 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.
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. Energy Co's 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. Energy Co's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Energy Co's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Energy Co's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Energy Co's 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, E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Energy Co's 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, Energy Co's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Energy Co's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Energy Co's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Energy Co's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) case study. Energy Co's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Energy Co's 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.
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. Energy Co's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Energy Co's 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Energy Co's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Energy Co's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Energy Co's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Energy Co's is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Energy Co's 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. Energy Co's 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, Energy Co's 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) .
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 Energy Co's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Energy Co's 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Energy Co's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Energy Co's 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.
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 Energy Co's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Energy Co's
– 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 Energy Co's.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A), Energy Co's 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 .
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. Energy Co's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 E+Co: A Tipping Point for Clean Energy Entrepreneurship (A) 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 Energy Co's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.