Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage
This article offers two integrated strategies managers can use in the face of environmental regulatory uncertainty. As integrated strategies, they both recognize non-market forces while taking into account market realities. Advocating for pragmatic, progressive policies enables firms to shape future policy around existing environmental strengths; this strategy raises competitors' costs when competitors have yet to develop identical competencies. Systematically embracing advancing regulation enables firms to satisfy activists who are pressuring policymakers to force firms to conform to higher environmental standards in other jurisdictions; this strategy allows managers to adapt to coming regulation at their own pace while leveraging market competencies. This article presents four case studies that highlight how some firms have implemented these strategies, and why some have been successful at mitigating regulatory uncertainty and some have not.
Swot Analysis of "Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage" written by Adam Fremeth, Brian K. Richter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Environmental Uncertainty facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing uncertainty and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Environmental Uncertainty, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Environmental Uncertainty 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Environmental Uncertainty
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 Environmental Uncertainty
Strengths Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Environmental Uncertainty in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Environmental Uncertainty is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Environmental Uncertainty in the sector have low bargaining power. Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Environmental Uncertainty to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Environmental Uncertainty is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Environmental Uncertainty is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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
– Environmental Uncertainty 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Analytics focus
– Environmental Uncertainty 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 Adam Fremeth, Brian K. Richter 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
– Environmental Uncertainty has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Environmental Uncertainty 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 Environmental Uncertainty in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Environmental Uncertainty digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Environmental Uncertainty 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage, it seems that the employees of Environmental Uncertainty 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Environmental Uncertainty has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Environmental Uncertainty has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Environmental Uncertainty 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. Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Environmental Uncertainty is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage, is just above the industry average. Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage HBR case study mentions - Environmental Uncertainty takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High 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 Environmental Uncertainty supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Environmental Uncertainty vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Environmental Uncertainty has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Environmental Uncertainty, firm in the HBR case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Opportunities Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage | 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage are -
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. Environmental Uncertainty can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Environmental Uncertainty to increase its market reach. Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Environmental Uncertainty has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Environmental Uncertainty to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage case study. Environmental Uncertainty can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Environmental Uncertainty 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, Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Environmental Uncertainty can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Environmental Uncertainty 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Environmental Uncertainty to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Environmental Uncertainty 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 Environmental Uncertainty 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 Environmental Uncertainty to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Environmental Uncertainty is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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.
Threats Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage are -
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 Environmental Uncertainty business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Environmental Uncertainty
– 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 Environmental Uncertainty.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage, Environmental Uncertainty may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Environmental Uncertainty can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Environmental Uncertainty in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Environmental Uncertainty has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Environmental Uncertainty 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.
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 Environmental Uncertainty.
Regulatory challenges
– Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Environmental Uncertainty 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage .
Environmental challenges
– Environmental Uncertainty 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. Environmental Uncertainty can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Environmental Uncertainty 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Profiting from Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty: Integrated Strategies for Competitive Advantage 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 Environmental Uncertainty needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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