Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store
Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world, had just announced that it would open its first "Green Store" in Beijing before the 2008 Olympic Games. David Monaco, asset and construction director of Carrefour China, had little experience with green building, and was struggling with how to translate that announcement into specifications for store design and operations. Monaco has to evaluate the situation carefully both from ecological and economic perspectives. In addition, he must take the regulatory and infrastructure situation in China into account, where no official green building standard exists and only few suppliers of energy saving equipment operate. He had already collected energy and cost data from several suppliers, and wondered how this could be used to decide among environmental technology options. Given that at least 150 additional company stores were scheduled for opening or renovation during the next three years in China, the project would have long term implications for Carrefour.
Authors :: Andreas Schotter, Paul W. Beamish, Robert Klassen
Swot Analysis of "Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store" written by Andreas Schotter, Paul W. Beamish, Robert Klassen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carrefour Monaco facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Strategy, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carrefour Monaco, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carrefour Monaco
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 Carrefour Monaco
Strengths Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carrefour Monaco in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carrefour Monaco to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carrefour Monaco to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Carrefour Monaco has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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.
Analytics focus
– Carrefour Monaco 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 Andreas Schotter, Paul W. Beamish, Robert Klassen 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Carrefour Monaco is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Carrefour Monaco
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Carrefour Monaco does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Carrefour Monaco is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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.
High brand equity
– Carrefour Monaco has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Carrefour Monaco to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Carrefour Monaco is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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)
– Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Carrefour Monaco in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Carrefour Monaco in the sector have low bargaining power. Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Carrefour Monaco to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour Monaco has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Carrefour Monaco is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Carrefour Monaco needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Carrefour Monaco 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Carrefour Monaco 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. Carrefour Monaco 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour Monaco 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Carrefour Monaco, firm in the HBR case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Carrefour Monaco has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Carrefour Monaco 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store, it seems that the employees of Carrefour Monaco 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.
Opportunities Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store | 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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. Carrefour Monaco can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carrefour Monaco can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Carrefour Monaco 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carrefour Monaco to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Carrefour Monaco is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Carrefour Monaco 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Carrefour Monaco 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Carrefour Monaco 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.
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. Carrefour Monaco can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Carrefour Monaco can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Carrefour Monaco has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Carrefour Monaco to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store case study. Carrefour Monaco can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Carrefour Monaco can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carrefour Monaco operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
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 Carrefour Monaco 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.
Threats Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Carrefour Monaco is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Carrefour Monaco has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour Monaco.
Increasing wage structure of Carrefour Monaco
– 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 Carrefour Monaco.
Regulatory challenges
– Carrefour Monaco 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 Carrefour Monaco business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Carrefour Monaco 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.
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 Carrefour Monaco in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Carrefour Monaco 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Carrefour Monaco 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 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. Carrefour Monaco needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Carrefour Monaco can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour China, Building a Greener Store 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 Carrefour Monaco needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
