Case Study Description of Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)
Arcadia Biosciences is seeking to introduce genetically modified rice to China that will lower farmers' costs and generate environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The case describes challenges facing this small agricultural biotechnology company, notably uneven enforcement of intellectual property in emerging market countries, and uncertainty regarding the provision and market value of carbon credits under international climate change agreements. In September 2008, Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faces an inflection point concerning his leading technology, genes for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in rice. He can determine a price to charge for NUE seed based on savings to farmers from their reduced use of expensive nitrogen fertilizers. Or he can advance a plan to earn revenue from carbon credits allocated under the Kyoto Protocol to China for use of Arcadia's rice, because reduced nitrogen fertilizer use will lower greenhouse gas emissions. The case provides context on the company; describes advances in seed technologies focused on climate change and the associated resource issue of fertilizer use; and presents the strategic choices facing a start-up company operating at the intersection of business, agriculture, and climate change agreements.
Swot Analysis of "Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)" written by Arthur A. Daemmrich includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nitrogen Arcadia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Regulation, Strategic planning, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nitrogen Arcadia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nitrogen Arcadia
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 Nitrogen Arcadia
Strengths Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nitrogen Arcadia in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nitrogen Arcadia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nitrogen Arcadia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nitrogen Arcadia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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.
Training and development
– Nitrogen Arcadia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Nitrogen Arcadia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nitrogen Arcadia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Nitrogen Arcadia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arthur A. Daemmrich 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
- Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Nitrogen Arcadia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged), in the dynamic environment Nitrogen Arcadia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nitrogen Arcadia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nitrogen Arcadia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Nitrogen Arcadia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nitrogen Arcadia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nitrogen Arcadia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nitrogen Arcadia products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nitrogen Arcadia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) HBR case study mentions - Nitrogen Arcadia takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Nitrogen Arcadia 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nitrogen Arcadia 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Arthur A. Daemmrich suggests that, Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Nitrogen Arcadia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nitrogen Arcadia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nitrogen Arcadia, firm in the HBR case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) | 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nitrogen Arcadia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Nitrogen Arcadia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nitrogen Arcadia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) case study. Nitrogen Arcadia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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 Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nitrogen Arcadia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nitrogen Arcadia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nitrogen Arcadia 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, Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Nitrogen Arcadia in the consumer business. Now Nitrogen Arcadia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Nitrogen Arcadia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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. Nitrogen Arcadia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Threats Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) are -
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. Nitrogen Arcadia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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. Nitrogen Arcadia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nitrogen Arcadia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged), Nitrogen Arcadia 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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 Nitrogen Arcadia 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, Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) .
Increasing wage structure of Nitrogen Arcadia
– 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 Nitrogen Arcadia.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) 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 Nitrogen Arcadia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.