Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation
In July 1999, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), a statutory national and international grain marketing organization, would become grower-owned. As a private corporation, the AWB would no longer receive government borrowing guarantees and would have to rely on its own capital base for investments. Along with a new structure, the AWB's wheat export monopoly was in jeopardy as domestic and international grain traders called for open competition. The case describes CEO Murray Roger's challenges in navigating the AWB into a new era.
Authors :: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis
Swot Analysis of "Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation" written by Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Awb Wheat facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational structure, Policy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Awb Wheat, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Awb Wheat 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Awb Wheat
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 Awb Wheat
Strengths Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Awb Wheat in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Awb Wheat 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 Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis 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)
– Awb Wheat 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Awb Wheat is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Awb Wheat in the sector have low bargaining power. Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Awb Wheat to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Awb Wheat has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Awb Wheat digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Awb Wheat 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
– Awb Wheat 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Awb Wheat to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Awb Wheat to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Awb Wheat 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 Awb Wheat is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Awb Wheat in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Awb Wheat
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Awb Wheat does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Awb Wheat 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.
Weaknesses Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Awb Wheat 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Awb Wheat 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Awb Wheat is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Awb Wheat products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Awb Wheat needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Awb Wheat supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Awb Wheat vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Awb Wheat 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 - Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Awb Wheat 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation, in the dynamic environment Awb Wheat has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Awb Wheat has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Awb Wheat has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis suggests that, Awb Wheat 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Awb Wheat 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation | 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Awb Wheat has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Awb Wheat to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Awb Wheat 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Awb Wheat to increase its market reach. Awb Wheat 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.
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 Awb Wheat in the consumer business. Now Awb Wheat 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, Awb Wheat can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Awb Wheat operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Awb Wheat 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Awb Wheat 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Awb Wheat is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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. Awb Wheat 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. Awb Wheat can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Awb Wheat can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Awb Wheat 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Awb Wheat 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 Awb Wheat to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation, Awb Wheat 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Awb Wheat high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Awb Wheat needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Global Business industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Awb Wheat with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Awb Wheat can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Awb Wheat 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.
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. Awb Wheat needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Awb Wheat has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Awb Wheat 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Awb Wheat is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Awb Wheat.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Awb Wheat 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. Awb Wheat can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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 Awb Wheat in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Australian Wheat Board Ltd.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation 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 Awb Wheat needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.