Case Study Description of Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?
The challenges faced in establishing hydrogen fuel cell-powered transportation in the United States, which promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on imported oil is examined. Foremost among these challenges is a "chicken-and-egg" dynamic: consumers will not buy hydrogen-fueled vehicles until a nationwide network of hydrogen refueling stations is available, and such a network will not be supplied without a critical mass of vehicles. Explores efforts of the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. Department of Energy in developing hydrogen fuel cell technology and infrastructure and in overcoming the chicken-and-egg dynamic. Also covers industrial policy and tax regimes in the United States, Japan, and the European Union and the efforts of automobile manufacturers to develop environmentally friendly transportation.
Authors :: Thomas R. Eisenmann, R. Matthew Willis
Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Tags :: Government, Networking, Research & development, Social enterprise, Sustainability, Technology, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?" written by Thomas R. Eisenmann, R. Matthew Willis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hydrogen Fuel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Networking, Research & development, Social enterprise, Sustainability, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hydrogen Fuel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hydrogen Fuel
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hydrogen Fuel
Strengths Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hydrogen Fuel in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hydrogen Fuel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hydrogen Fuel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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.
Learning organization
- Hydrogen Fuel 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 Hydrogen Fuel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hydrogen Fuel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Training and development
– Hydrogen Fuel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hydrogen Fuel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hydrogen Fuel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Hydrogen Fuel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hydrogen Fuel 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. Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?, is just above the industry average. Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Hydrogen Fuel 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hydrogen Fuel 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Hydrogen Fuel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?, in the dynamic environment Hydrogen Fuel has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hydrogen Fuel has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Hydrogen Fuel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hydrogen Fuel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hydrogen Fuel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Hydrogen Fuel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hydrogen Fuel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? | 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hydrogen Fuel 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.
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 Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hydrogen Fuel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hydrogen Fuel 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Manufacturing automation
– Hydrogen Fuel can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hydrogen Fuel 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. Hydrogen Fuel 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.
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 Hydrogen Fuel in the consumer business. Now Hydrogen Fuel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hydrogen Fuel 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 Hydrogen Fuel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hydrogen Fuel in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hydrogen Fuel to increase its market reach. Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Hydrogen Fuel 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hydrogen Fuel can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Threats Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hydrogen Fuel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hydrogen Fuel needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing wage structure of Hydrogen Fuel
– 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 Hydrogen Fuel.
Regulatory challenges
– Hydrogen Fuel 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hydrogen Fuel in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hydrogen Fuel 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution?, Hydrogen Fuel may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hydrogen Fuel is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hydrogen Fuel 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.
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 Hydrogen Fuel.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hydrogen Fuel 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.
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. Hydrogen Fuel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Fuel Cells: The Hydrogen Revolution? 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 Hydrogen Fuel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
