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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, 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 -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nitrogen Arcadia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nitrogen Arcadia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nitrogen Arcadia in the sector have low bargaining power. Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nitrogen Arcadia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Nitrogen Arcadia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Nitrogen Arcadia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nitrogen Arcadia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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 -
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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nitrogen Arcadia 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 - Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged), is just above the industry average. Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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.
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 -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nitrogen Arcadia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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. Nitrogen Arcadia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nitrogen Arcadia to increase its market reach. Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nitrogen Arcadia 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 Nitrogen Arcadia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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 -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nitrogen Arcadia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nitrogen Arcadia 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.
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 Nitrogen Arcadia in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Nitrogen Arcadia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 .
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.