Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group
This case describes the megafarm model launched by the CP group as part of their efforts to ensure the safety and quality of their supply chain of agricultural products (particularly, eggs) in China while also promoting the welfare of Chinese farmers. This model was developed in close partnership with the local government, and received financing support from a local bank. The case asks students to discuss the potential for scaling this model across China.
Swot Analysis of "Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group" written by William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cp Agricultural facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cp Agricultural, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cp Agricultural 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cp Agricultural
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 Cp Agricultural
Strengths Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cp Agricultural in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cp Agricultural 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cp Agricultural 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.
Analytics focus
– Cp Agricultural 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 William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai 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.
Learning organization
- Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Cp Agricultural
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cp Agricultural does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cp Agricultural 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Cp Agricultural has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cp Agricultural 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Cp Agricultural has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cp Agricultural to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cp Agricultural has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cp Agricultural has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cp Agricultural is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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.
Weaknesses Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cp Agricultural is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Cp Agricultural needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cp Agricultural to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Cp Agricultural 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai suggests that, Cp Agricultural 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group, it seems that the employees of Cp Agricultural 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cp Agricultural 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. Cp Agricultural 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cp Agricultural 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cp Agricultural 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group HBR case study mentions - Cp Agricultural 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural, firm in the HBR case study Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cp Agricultural products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cp Agricultural needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group | 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cp Agricultural can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cp Agricultural operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cp Agricultural to increase its market reach. Cp Agricultural 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cp Agricultural 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.
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. Cp Agricultural can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cp Agricultural 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cp Agricultural 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, Cp Agricultural is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cp Agricultural has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cp Agricultural to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group case study. Cp Agricultural can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Cp Agricultural in the consumer business. Now Cp Agricultural can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cp Agricultural 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.
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. Cp Agricultural can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cp Agricultural can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Cp Agricultural can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cp Agricultural 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.
Threats Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group are -
Increasing wage structure of Cp Agricultural
– 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 Cp Agricultural.
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 Cp Agricultural in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Cp Agricultural 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cp Agricultural 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
– Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cp Agricultural has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cp Agricultural 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cp Agricultural 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 Cp Agricultural 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group, Cp Agricultural 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cp Agricultural 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cp Agricultural is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: the Megafarms of CP Group 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 Cp Agricultural needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.