Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation
In the United States, genetically modified corn and soybeans are now widely grown and consumed. In Europe, however, they have been dubbed "Frankenstein foods," shunned by packaged food manufacturers, and subjected to a host of governmental restrictions. This case provides information on the economics and politics of agricultural biotechnology. It emphasizes the divergent attitudes in the United States and Europe about how the technology ought to be regulated and highlights the resultant strategic dilemmas for companies in the business, including DuPont, Monsanto, and Novartis. Students can analyze the technology and its regulators from both a normative public policy standpoint (i.e., asking what sorts of regulatory institutions would enhance social well-being) and the point of view of positive political economy (i.e., asking how the regulatory system is likely to evolve given the current institutional setup and the interests of the various public and private players). Raises questions of how firms can develop strategy under conditions of extreme regulatory risk.
Swot Analysis of "Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation" written by Forest Reinhardt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Regulatory Agricultural facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Regulatory Agricultural, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Regulatory Agricultural 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Regulatory Agricultural
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 Regulatory Agricultural
Strengths Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Regulatory Agricultural in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Regulatory Agricultural
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Regulatory Agricultural does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Regulatory Agricultural is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Regulatory Agricultural in the sector have low bargaining power. Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Regulatory Agricultural to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Regulatory Agricultural is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Regulatory Agricultural digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Regulatory Agricultural 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Regulatory Agricultural is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Regulatory Agricultural has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Regulatory Agricultural to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Regulatory Agricultural is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Regulatory Agricultural 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
– Regulatory Agricultural 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 Regulatory Agricultural in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Regulatory Agricultural 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 - Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation, it seems that the employees of Regulatory Agricultural don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Regulatory Agricultural 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. Regulatory Agricultural 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, Regulatory Agricultural is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Regulatory Agricultural, firm in the HBR case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Regulatory Agricultural 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Forest Reinhardt suggests that, Regulatory Agricultural 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation HBR case study mentions - Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Opportunities Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation | 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Regulatory Agricultural 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.
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. Regulatory Agricultural 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. Regulatory Agricultural 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.
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. Regulatory Agricultural 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. Regulatory Agricultural can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Regulatory Agricultural has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Regulatory Agricultural to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation case study. Regulatory Agricultural can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Regulatory Agricultural to increase its market reach. Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Regulatory Agricultural 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Regulatory Agricultural to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Regulatory Agricultural can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Regulatory Agricultural is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Regulatory Agricultural 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 Regulatory Agricultural
– 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 Regulatory Agricultural.
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 Regulatory Agricultural.
Regulatory challenges
– Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Regulatory Agricultural 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.
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.
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. Regulatory Agricultural 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.
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 Regulatory Agricultural in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Regulatory Agricultural business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation, Regulatory Agricultural 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Regulatory Agricultural has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Regulatory Agricultural 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Regulation 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 Regulatory Agricultural needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.