Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho
This a role play supplement to Competing for Development (A): Fuel Efficient Stoves for Darfur, product # 908M61. The role plays feature additional background, motivations and decision priorities from the key local and international players in Darfur's fuel efficient stove interventions, including the Intermediate Technology Group , renamed to Practical Action in 2005 (ITDG/PA), the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Aprovecho, the International Lifeline Fund, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and organizations representing local, female, internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Swot Analysis of "Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho" written by Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aprovecho Fuel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, Emerging markets, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aprovecho Fuel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aprovecho Fuel 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aprovecho Fuel
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 Aprovecho Fuel
Strengths Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aprovecho Fuel in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Aprovecho Fuel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Aprovecho Fuel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Aprovecho Fuel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Aprovecho Fuel in the sector have low bargaining power. Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aprovecho Fuel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aprovecho Fuel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Aprovecho Fuel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Aprovecho Fuel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aprovecho Fuel 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Aprovecho Fuel 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 Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour 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.
Training and development
– Aprovecho Fuel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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.
Organizational Resilience of Aprovecho Fuel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Aprovecho Fuel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Aprovecho Fuel 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 Aprovecho Fuel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Aprovecho Fuel 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour suggests that, Aprovecho Fuel 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Aprovecho Fuel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Aprovecho Fuel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Aprovecho Fuel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Aprovecho Fuel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Aprovecho Fuel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho, is just above the industry average. Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aprovecho Fuel is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho, it seems that the employees of Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aprovecho Fuel, firm in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Opportunities Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho | 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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. Aprovecho Fuel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Aprovecho Fuel to increase its market reach. Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Aprovecho Fuel 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 Aprovecho Fuel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aprovecho Fuel 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.
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 Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Aprovecho Fuel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Aprovecho Fuel 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 Aprovecho Fuel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Aprovecho Fuel 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aprovecho Fuel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Threats Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho are -
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aprovecho Fuel is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Aprovecho Fuel in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Aprovecho Fuel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aprovecho Fuel 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.
Increasing wage structure of Aprovecho Fuel
– 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 Aprovecho Fuel.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Aprovecho Fuel 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.
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 Aprovecho Fuel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Aprovecho Fuel 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.
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 Aprovecho Fuel.
Environmental challenges
– Aprovecho Fuel 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. Aprovecho Fuel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aprovecho Fuel 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Competing for Development (B3): Aprovecho 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 Aprovecho Fuel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
