GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making
GreenWood Resources Inc. was founded in 1998 by Jeff Nuss, a bio-resources engineer. It was a Portland, Oregon, USA-based investment and asset management company with a worldwide focus on high-yield and fast-growing tree farms. In spite of its global vision, value proposition and pursuit of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, GreenWood had struggled for almost 10 years to obtain significant investment funds until 2007-2008. Through persistent effort, GreenWood built the key elements (people, resources and business networks) for a successful venture despite the serious early financial constraints. GreenWood entered and navigated the Chinese market, deciding to establish its China operation with only a fraction of the funds it needed. Jeff seized an opportunity to organize a US$175 million private equity fund through his connections with the timber investment community to acquire a large poplar plantation in Oregon. The expanded scale and personnel resulting from the acquisition enabled GreenWood to become a visible player in the tree plantation industry and facilitated its securing an additional commitment of US$200 million of capital for use in the Chinese market. Notwithstanding the availability of the capital and its cumulative knowledge of the Chinese market, the investment screening and negotiation process in China turned out to be complex due to the differences in business approaches and culturally embedded mindsets. In June 2010, Jeff and his team were weighing the pros and cons of two potential projects. They felt that GreenWood needed to proceed carefully to ensure its criteria of sustainable business (in terms of economic performance, social responsibility and environmental stewardship) were met in China but also realized the company should show some progress to its major investor in China, Oriental Timber Fund Limited. Jeff and his senior management team needed to decide whether they should recommend investing in one of the two projects.
Swot Analysis of "GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making" written by Lei Li, Howard Feldman, Alan Eisner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Greenwood Jeff facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Greenwood Jeff, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Greenwood Jeff 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Greenwood Jeff
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 Greenwood Jeff
Strengths GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Greenwood Jeff in GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Greenwood Jeff 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.
High brand equity
– Greenwood Jeff has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Greenwood Jeff to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Greenwood Jeff
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Greenwood Jeff does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Greenwood Jeff is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Greenwood Jeff 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 Lei Li, Howard Feldman, Alan Eisner 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Greenwood Jeff in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Greenwood Jeff is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Greenwood Jeff has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Greenwood Jeff has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Greenwood Jeff is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Greenwood Jeff to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Greenwood Jeff to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Greenwood Jeff 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 Greenwood Jeff 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 Greenwood Jeff in the sector have low bargaining power. GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Greenwood Jeff to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Greenwood Jeff 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, Lei Li, Howard Feldman, Alan Eisner suggests that, Greenwood Jeff 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making, in the dynamic environment Greenwood Jeff has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Greenwood Jeff has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Greenwood Jeff 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making HBR case study mentions - Greenwood Jeff 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making, is just above the industry average. Greenwood Jeff 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 Greenwood Jeff 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Greenwood Jeff 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. Greenwood Jeff 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Greenwood Jeff has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Greenwood Jeff is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Greenwood Jeff needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Greenwood Jeff to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Greenwood Jeff is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making | 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making are -
Manufacturing automation
– Greenwood Jeff 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Greenwood Jeff 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Greenwood Jeff 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, GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Greenwood Jeff to increase its market reach. Greenwood Jeff 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Greenwood Jeff 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Greenwood Jeff can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Global Business segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Greenwood Jeff 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.
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. Greenwood Jeff can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Greenwood Jeff has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Greenwood Jeff to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making case study. Greenwood Jeff can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Greenwood Jeff 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, Greenwood Jeff can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Greenwood Jeff operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Greenwood Jeff 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Greenwood Jeff can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Greenwood Jeff is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Greenwood Jeff can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Greenwood Jeff in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Greenwood Jeff 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. Greenwood Jeff can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Greenwood Jeff 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 Greenwood Jeff 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.
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 Greenwood Jeff.
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 Greenwood Jeff business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Greenwood Jeff 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Greenwood Jeff 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making .
Increasing wage structure of Greenwood Jeff
– 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 Greenwood Jeff.
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. Greenwood Jeff needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 GreenWood Resources: A Global Sustainable Venture in the Making 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 Greenwood Jeff needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.