Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future
Flibe Energy is a startup in the nuclear power space seeking to find a safe way to enable nuclear energy using a technology previously dismissed by the US government since it could not be used for making material for nuclear weapons. The founders believe they have found a way to create safe, clean energy using a proven but forgotten technology. The challenges are steep, however, as proof of the technology will require hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.
Authors :: Robert A. Burgelman, Robert E. Siegel, Scott Nolan
Swot Analysis of "Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future" written by Robert A. Burgelman, Robert E. Siegel, Scott Nolan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Flibe Energy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Flibe Energy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Flibe Energy
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 Flibe Energy
Strengths Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Flibe Energy in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Flibe Energy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Flibe Energy 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.
Learning organization
- Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Flibe Energy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Flibe Energy does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Flibe Energy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Flibe Energy in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Flibe Energy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy 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.
Analytics focus
– Flibe Energy 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 Robert A. Burgelman, Robert E. Siegel, Scott Nolan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Flibe Energy is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Flibe Energy in the sector have low bargaining power. Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Flibe Energy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Flibe Energy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Flibe Energy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Flibe Energy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Flibe Energy 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. Flibe Energy 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
Flibe Energy 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert A. Burgelman, Robert E. Siegel, Scott Nolan suggests that, Flibe Energy 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Flibe Energy is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Flibe Energy 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Flibe Energy has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future, it seems that the employees of Flibe Energy 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Flibe Energy 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 - Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Flibe Energy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Flibe Energy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future | 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Flibe Energy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Flibe Energy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future case study. Flibe Energy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Flibe Energy 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Flibe Energy 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Flibe Energy 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Flibe Energy can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Flibe Energy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Flibe Energy 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, Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Flibe Energy 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Flibe Energy 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Flibe Energy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Flibe Energy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Flibe Energy can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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.
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 Flibe Energy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Flibe Energy can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Flibe Energy 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Flibe Energy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Flibe Energy 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.
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 Flibe Energy in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Flibe Energy 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.
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. Flibe Energy 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. Flibe Energy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Flibe Energy 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. Flibe Energy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Flibe Energy 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Flibe Energy 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.
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 Flibe Energy.
Regulatory challenges
– Flibe Energy 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Flibe Energy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy: Pursuing a Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy Future 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 Flibe Energy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.