Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4
Describes the position of Utility #4 in negotiating Group A with respect to 1) its SO emissions reduction requirements; 2) the costs of its alternative compliance strategies; and 3) the nature of its state regulatory environment.
Swot Analysis of "Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4" written by Willis Emmons includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Utility 4 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Negotiations, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Utility 4, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Utility 4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Utility 4
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 Utility 4
Strengths Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Utility 4 in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Utility 4 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 Utility 4 in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Utility 4 has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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.
Analytics focus
– Utility 4 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 Willis Emmons 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Utility 4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Utility 4 is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Utility 4 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Utility 4 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Utility 4 in the sector have low bargaining power. Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Utility 4 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Utility 4 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Utility 4 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.
Organizational Resilience of Utility 4
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Utility 4 does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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.
Weaknesses Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 are -
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 Utility 4 supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Utility 4 vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Utility 4 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Utility 4 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. Utility 4 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Utility 4 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Utility 4 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
Utility 4 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Utility 4 products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Utility 4 needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Utility 4 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 - Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Willis Emmons suggests that, Utility 4 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Utility 4 is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 | 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 are -
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. Utility 4 can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Utility 4 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
– Utility 4 can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Utility 4 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Utility 4 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Utility 4 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.
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 Utility 4 in the consumer business. Now Utility 4 can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Utility 4 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Utility 4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Utility 4 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, Utility 4 is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Utility 4 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Utility 4 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Utility 4 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, Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Utility 4 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.
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. Utility 4 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.
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 Utility 4 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, Utility 4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 .
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 Utility 4.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Utility 4 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.
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. Utility 4 can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Utility 4 with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Utility 4
– 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 Utility 4.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Utility 4 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.
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 Utility 4 in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Utility 4 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
– Utility 4 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Utility 4 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Negotiation Exercise on Tradeable Pollution Allowances: Group A, Utility #4 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 Utility 4 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.