Competing for Development (B5): USAID SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Competing for Development (B5): USAID
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 (B5): USAID" written by Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Usaid Fuel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Competing for Development (B5): USAID
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Competing for Development (B5): USAID case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Usaid Fuel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Usaid 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 (B5): USAID can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Competing for Development (B5): USAID case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Usaid 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 Usaid Fuel
Strengths Competing for Development (B5): USAID | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Usaid Fuel in Competing for Development (B5): USAID Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Usaid Fuel is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Usaid Fuel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Competing for Development (B5): USAID Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Usaid Fuel in the sector have low bargaining power. Competing for Development (B5): USAID has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Usaid Fuel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Usaid Fuel has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Usaid Fuel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Competing for Development (B5): USAID Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Usaid 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Competing for Development (B5): USAID firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Usaid Fuel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Usaid Fuel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Usaid Fuel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Usaid 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 Usaid Fuel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Usaid Fuel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Usaid Fuel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Usaid Fuel 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Usaid Fuel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Competing for Development (B5): USAID are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Usaid Fuel 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 (B5): USAID HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Competing for Development (B5): USAID | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Competing for Development (B5): USAID are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Competing for Development (B5): USAID, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Usaid Fuel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Competing for Development (B5): USAID can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Usaid Fuel 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. Usaid Fuel 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Usaid Fuel, firm in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B5): USAID needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Usaid Fuel is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Competing for Development (B5): USAID, it seems that the employees of Usaid 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Usaid 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Oana Branzei, Samer Abdelnour suggests that, Usaid 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Usaid Fuel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Usaid Fuel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Usaid Fuel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Competing for Development (B5): USAID HBR case study mentions - Usaid Fuel 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Usaid Fuel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Usaid Fuel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Competing for Development (B5): USAID | 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 (B5): USAID are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Usaid Fuel 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Usaid Fuel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Usaid Fuel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Usaid Fuel 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
– Usaid 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 (B5): USAID - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Usaid 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
– Usaid 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Usaid 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Usaid 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Usaid 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 Usaid Fuel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Usaid Fuel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Usaid Fuel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Competing for Development (B5): USAID case study. Usaid Fuel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Usaid 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Usaid 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Usaid Fuel 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 (B5): USAID, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Usaid Fuel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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.
Threats Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID are -
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. Usaid Fuel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Usaid Fuel 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 (B5): USAID .
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 Usaid Fuel in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Usaid Fuel.
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.
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 (B5): USAID, Usaid Fuel 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Usaid 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Usaid 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.
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. Usaid Fuel 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Usaid Fuel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Usaid 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.
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. Usaid Fuel 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
– Usaid 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.
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 Usaid Fuel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Competing for Development (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID 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 (B5): USAID 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 Usaid Fuel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.