Case Study Description of groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose'
The groupelephant.com (formerly EPI-USE) case focuses on CEO Jonathan Tager as he grapples with implementing and sustaining his company's recently launched Beyond Corporate Purpose: Elephants, Rhinos & People ('ERP') program. In what is more than just a Corporate Social Responsibility ('CSR') program but rather a hybrid business model, Tager is contemplating how to measure and convey the program's expected impact on elephant and rhino poaching, as well as on poverty alleviation in South Africa. The case study highlights the difficulty of planning in embarking on programs of this nature as well as CSR programs in general. It also addresses topics such as hybrid (blended) business models, the 'theory of change' underlying CSR strategy, and the challenges involved in defining and measuring impact. The case explores organizational challenges and tensions related to adopting a business model that is no longer solely for-profit, including whether companies have a responsibility to actively engage in advocacy and devote significant resources to social and environmental (conservation) objectives or whether such efforts violate the fiduciary responsibility that CEOs have to shareholders.
Authors :: Flavio Feferman, Matthew Bujnicki, Stacey Chin, Travis Dziubla
Topics :: Global Business
Tags :: Emerging markets, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose'" written by Flavio Feferman, Matthew Bujnicki, Stacey Chin, Travis Dziubla includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Groupelephant.com Tager facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose'
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Groupelephant.com Tager, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Groupelephant.com Tager 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Groupelephant.com Tager
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 Groupelephant.com Tager
Strengths groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Groupelephant.com Tager in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Groupelephant.com Tager digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Groupelephant.com Tager in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Groupelephant.com Tager 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 Groupelephant.com Tager is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Groupelephant.com Tager to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Groupelephant.com Tager to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Groupelephant.com Tager is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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 Groupelephant.com Tager in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Groupelephant.com Tager is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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 Flavio Feferman, Matthew Bujnicki, Stacey Chin, Travis Dziubla 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 Groupelephant.com Tager 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 Groupelephant.com Tager has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose', it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Groupelephant.com Tager is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose', is just above the industry average. Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose', in the dynamic environment Groupelephant.com Tager has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Groupelephant.com Tager has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Groupelephant.com Tager 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 - groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' HBR case study mentions - Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Opportunities groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' | 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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. Groupelephant.com Tager can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Groupelephant.com Tager 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 Groupelephant.com Tager to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Groupelephant.com Tager 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, groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose', to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Groupelephant.com Tager is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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.
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. Groupelephant.com Tager 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. Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
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 Groupelephant.com Tager in the consumer business. Now Groupelephant.com Tager can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Groupelephant.com Tager can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Groupelephant.com Tager operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Groupelephant.com Tager can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Groupelephant.com Tager with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Groupelephant.com Tager
– 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 Groupelephant.com Tager.
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. Groupelephant.com Tager can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Groupelephant.com Tager is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Groupelephant.com Tager needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose', Groupelephant.com Tager 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 .
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 Groupelephant.com Tager business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Groupelephant.com Tager 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Groupelephant.com Tager will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Groupelephant.com Tager 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.
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 Groupelephant.com Tager in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 groupelephant.com: Going 'Beyond Corporate Purpose' 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 Groupelephant.com Tager needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.