Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab
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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab" written by Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Berkeley Lab facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Berkeley Lab, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Berkeley Lab
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 Berkeley Lab
Strengths Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Berkeley Lab in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Berkeley Lab is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Berkeley Lab digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Berkeley Lab 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Berkeley Lab in the sector have low bargaining power. Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Berkeley Lab to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Berkeley Lab is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Berkeley Lab has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Berkeley Lab to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Berkeley Lab 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Berkeley Lab to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Berkeley Lab to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Berkeley Lab 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 Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Berkeley Lab
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Berkeley Lab 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
– Berkeley Lab 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 Berkeley Lab in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Berkeley Lab is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Berkeley Lab 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Berkeley Lab products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Berkeley Lab needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab, it seems that the employees of Berkeley Lab 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 Berkeley Lab 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab, in the dynamic environment Berkeley Lab has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Berkeley Lab has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Berkeley Lab 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 Berkeley Lab has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Berkeley Lab 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 - Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Berkeley Lab is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Berkeley Lab is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Berkeley Lab needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Berkeley Lab to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab, 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.
Opportunities Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab | 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Berkeley Lab has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Berkeley Lab to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab case study. Berkeley Lab can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Berkeley Lab 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 Berkeley Lab to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Berkeley Lab 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Berkeley Lab is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Berkeley Lab can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Berkeley Lab operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Berkeley Lab 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.
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. Berkeley Lab can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Berkeley Lab 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. Berkeley Lab 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Berkeley Lab 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Berkeley Lab 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Berkeley Lab 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Berkeley Lab 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, Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Berkeley Lab 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.
Threats Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab, Berkeley Lab 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Berkeley Lab
– 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 Berkeley Lab.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Berkeley Lab 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Berkeley Lab with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Berkeley Lab 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.
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. Berkeley Lab 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Berkeley Lab 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.
Environmental challenges
– Berkeley Lab 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. Berkeley Lab can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Berkeley Lab 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 Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab .
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 Berkeley Lab in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Berkeley Lab business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Berkeley Lab 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Competing for Development (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 (B2): The Berkeley Lab 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 Berkeley Lab needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.