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Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy


In 2012, the energy sector in the United States was demanding major reform. Prices of oil and gas had continued to cripple the middle and lower class as the U.S. economy slowly recovered. At the same time, the U.S. lagged behind developed economies in production of renewable energy. The acceptance of climate change remained a partisan issue. The development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) promised an abundance of accessible, cheap, domestically produced natural gas, but the cost to the environment remained a point of debate. As incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama faced Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, their (and their parties) stances on energy policy and the environment differed in several major areas. The results of the election would shape the country's energy policy for at least the next four years, and potentially create enough momentum to set energy policy of the United States for many years to come.

Authors :: Rawi Abdelal, Kaitlyn Tuthill

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy" written by Rawi Abdelal, Kaitlyn Tuthill includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Energy Romney facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Global Business.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Energy Romney, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Energy Romney 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Energy Romney
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 Romney




Strengths Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Energy Romney in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy Harvard Business Review case study are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Energy Romney 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry

– Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Energy Romney to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Energy Romney to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Training and development

– Energy Romney has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Energy Romney is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Organizational Resilience of Energy Romney

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Energy Romney does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Energy Romney 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Energy Romney is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Energy Romney in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Innovation driven organization

– Energy Romney is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Analytics focus

– Energy Romney 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 Rawi Abdelal, Kaitlyn Tuthill 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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.

Digital Transformation in Global Business segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Energy Romney digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Energy Romney has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.






Weaknesses Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Energy Romney is planning to shift buying processes online.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy, 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy, it seems that the employees of Energy Romney 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 to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Energy Romney is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy, in the dynamic environment Energy Romney has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Energy Romney has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy, is just above the industry average. Energy Romney 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Energy Romney 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Energy Romney 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Energy Romney 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy HBR case study mentions - Energy Romney 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Energy Romney is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Energy Romney needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Energy Romney to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.




Opportunities Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy | 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Energy Romney 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Energy Romney has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Energy Romney to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy case study. Energy Romney can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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 Romney 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 Romney 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Energy Romney 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Energy Romney can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Energy Romney 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Energy Romney can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

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 Energy Romney in the consumer business. Now Energy Romney can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Energy Romney 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.

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 Romney 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Energy Romney can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Energy Romney is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Energy Romney 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 Energy Romney to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.




Threats Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Energy Romney has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Energy Romney 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.

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 Romney in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Regulatory challenges

– Energy Romney 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Energy Romney with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Energy Romney 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Energy Romney 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.

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 Energy Romney.

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 Romney can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Energy Romney 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Energy Romney 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.

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 Romney 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 Energy Romney 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Energy Romney is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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 Romney vs. Obama and U.S. Energy Policy 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 Romney needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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