To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem
Investigates solid waste management in Hong Kong. The shortage of landfill capacity demands other solutions for waste processing and generation. Beginning April 2005, Hong Kong will see landfill charges. Most solid waste is generated by the construction industry. Focuses on the impact of the landfill charges on the construction industry and, in particular, the demolition of the Hunghom Peninsula by Sun Hung Kai Properties. This project has angered local environmentalists and generated significant controversy. In the end, Sun Hung Kai announced the demolition of the development. The analysis of whether the new landfill charges will act as a deterrent for future developers is, therefore, crucial.
Swot Analysis of "To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem" written by Ka-Fu Wong, Carola Ramon-Berjano includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Landfill Waste facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy, Regulation, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Landfill Waste, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Landfill Waste 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Landfill Waste
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 Landfill Waste
Strengths To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Landfill Waste in To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Landfill Waste has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Landfill Waste to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Landfill Waste digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Landfill Waste 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Landfill Waste 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 Landfill Waste 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Landfill Waste 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Landfill Waste in the sector have low bargaining power. To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Landfill Waste to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Landfill Waste is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Landfill Waste 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 Landfill Waste in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Landfill Waste has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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
– Landfill Waste 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 Ka-Fu Wong, Carola Ramon-Berjano 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Landfill Waste has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Landfill Waste 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.
Weaknesses To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ka-Fu Wong, Carola Ramon-Berjano suggests that, Landfill Waste 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Landfill Waste 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 Landfill Waste has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Landfill Waste 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. Landfill Waste 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Landfill Waste products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Landfill Waste 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Landfill Waste 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Landfill Waste, firm in the HBR case study To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Landfill Waste 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem HBR case study mentions - Landfill Waste 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Landfill Waste 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem | 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Landfill Waste 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Landfill Waste 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Landfill Waste to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Landfill Waste in the consumer business. Now Landfill Waste can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Landfill Waste is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Landfill Waste 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Landfill Waste to increase its market reach. Landfill Waste 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Landfill Waste 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.
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. Landfill Waste can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Landfill Waste 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Landfill Waste 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Landfill Waste 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Landfill Waste can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Landfill Waste to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Landfill Waste to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Landfill Waste with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Landfill Waste 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.
Increasing wage structure of Landfill Waste
– 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 Landfill Waste.
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 Landfill Waste.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Landfill Waste is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Landfill Waste 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. Landfill Waste can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem, Landfill Waste 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 .
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. Landfill Waste can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Landfill Waste 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.
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. Landfill Waste needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Landfill Waste 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Landfill Waste 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 To Tax or Not to Tax: Hong Kong's Waste Problem 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 Landfill Waste needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.