Swot Analysis of "Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B)" written by Dina Witter, Kathleen L. McGinn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Showdown Waterfront facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Labor, Negotiations and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Showdown Waterfront, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Showdown Waterfront 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Showdown Waterfront
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 Showdown Waterfront
Strengths Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Showdown Waterfront in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Showdown Waterfront in the sector have low bargaining power. Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Showdown Waterfront to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Showdown Waterfront is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Showdown Waterfront has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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
– Showdown Waterfront 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 Showdown Waterfront in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Showdown Waterfront 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 Showdown Waterfront is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Showdown Waterfront is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Showdown Waterfront digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Showdown Waterfront 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.
Analytics focus
– Showdown Waterfront 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 Dina Witter, Kathleen L. McGinn 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Showdown Waterfront 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.
High brand equity
– Showdown Waterfront has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Showdown Waterfront to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Showdown Waterfront
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Showdown Waterfront does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B), it seems that the employees of Showdown Waterfront 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B), 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Showdown Waterfront 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Showdown Waterfront 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 - Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Dina Witter, Kathleen L. McGinn suggests that, Showdown Waterfront 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Showdown Waterfront is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Showdown Waterfront 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. Showdown Waterfront 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Showdown Waterfront 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown Waterfront 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Showdown Waterfront 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B), is just above the industry average. Showdown Waterfront 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.
Opportunities Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) | 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Showdown Waterfront has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Showdown Waterfront to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) case study. Showdown Waterfront can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Showdown Waterfront 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Showdown Waterfront can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Showdown Waterfront 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, Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Showdown Waterfront 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 Showdown Waterfront to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Showdown Waterfront 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Showdown Waterfront is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Showdown Waterfront 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Showdown Waterfront 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Showdown Waterfront to increase its market reach. Showdown Waterfront 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Showdown Waterfront in the consumer business. Now Showdown Waterfront can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Showdown Waterfront can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Showdown Waterfront can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Showdown Waterfront can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
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. Showdown Waterfront can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Showdown Waterfront with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Showdown Waterfront 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.
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 Showdown Waterfront business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B), Showdown Waterfront 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Showdown Waterfront 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Showdown Waterfront 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.
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 Showdown Waterfront in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Showdown Waterfront needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Showdown Waterfront has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Showdown Waterfront 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.
Environmental challenges
– Showdown Waterfront 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. Showdown Waterfront can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B) 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 Showdown Waterfront needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
