FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?

This case analysis traces the establishment and subsequent operation of FIJI Water LLC and its bottling subsidiary, Natural Waters of Viti Limited, the first company in Fiji extracting, bottling and marketing, both domestically and internationally, artesian water coming from a virgin ecosystem found on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. The case reviews the growth and market expansion of this highly successful company with the brand name FIJI Natural Artesian Water (FIJI Water). The company has grown rapidly over the past decade and a half, and now exports bottled water into many countries in the world from its production plant located in the Fiji Islands. In 2008, FIJI Water was the leading imported bottled water brand in the United States. In the context of great marketing success of the FIJI brand, particularly in the U.S. market, the case focuses on how the company has responded to a number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, including measuring and reducing its carbon footprint, responsibilities to key stakeholders, and concerns of the Fiji government with regard to taxation and transfer pricing issues. The case provides a compelling illustration of how CSR challenges may jeopardize the sustainability of a clever marketing strategy.

Authors :: James McMaster, Jan Nowak

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: International business, Marketing, Pricing, Social responsibility, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?" written by James McMaster, Jan Nowak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fiji Water facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing, Pricing, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Global Business.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fiji Water, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fiji Water 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fiji Water
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 Fiji Water

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Strengths FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Fiji Water in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? Harvard Business Review case study are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Fiji Water 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.

Learning organization

- Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Global Business segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fiji Water digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fiji Water 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Fiji Water is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Fiji Water in the sector have low bargaining power. FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fiji Water to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Diverse revenue streams

– Fiji Water is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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.

High brand equity

– Fiji Water has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fiji Water to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to lead change in Global Business field

– Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry

– FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fiji Water to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fiji Water to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Fiji Water is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Fiji Water 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.

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Weaknesses FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Fiji Water, firm in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, James McMaster, Jan Nowak suggests that, Fiji Water 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fiji Water 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. Fiji Water 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fiji Water is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 Fiji Water has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fiji Water is planning to shift buying processes online.

Need for greater diversity

– Fiji Water 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Fiji Water is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Fiji Water needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fiji Water to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?, 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"?, is just above the industry average. Fiji Water 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 Fiji Water 's lucrative customers.

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Opportunities FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? | 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

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. Fiji Water 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. Fiji Water 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fiji Water 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fiji Water can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Loyalty marketing

– Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fiji Water is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Fiji Water 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fiji Water 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fiji Water to increase its market reach. Fiji Water 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Fiji Water has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fiji Water to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? case study. Fiji Water can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water in the consumer business. Now Fiji Water 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, Fiji Water can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fiji Water operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.

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Threats FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? are -

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 Fiji Water in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Fiji Water can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Regulatory challenges

– Fiji Water 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.

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 Fiji Water business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Fiji Water 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fiji Water 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fiji Water 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? .

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fiji Water 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 Fiji Water

– 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 Fiji Water.

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. Fiji Water needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

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.

Environmental challenges

– Fiji Water 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. Fiji Water can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 FIJI Water and Corporate Social Responsibility - Green Makeover or "Greenwashing"? 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 Fiji Water needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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