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Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B)


The Liquid Gold cases are an adaptation of the original Calambra Olive Oil cases (UV3774 and UV3777). This version has been written to support a modified classroom experience. The cases describe the start-up of Calambra, a company built to sell a premier brand of olive oil. Frank Lockfeld, the founder, has to determine how much olive oil to make for the second year's production. Unfortunately, he has to make this decision before learning the results of the first year's sales. Thus, there is enormous uncertainty around the decision. The A case (UV3849) tells the start-up story and presents enough information for students to do a sensitivity analysis to decide which of the many uncertainties are most important. This leads to a discussion of tornado diagrams. The B case provides information on those critical uncertainties. This leads to a class on spreadsheet modeling and simulation modeling, searching for an optimal order quantity, adjusting for risk, etc. It also enables a discussion of a key general business issue: the difference between make-to-order and make-to-inventory businesses and the fundamental flaw in most business plans that leads to gross overestimates of potential profitability.

Authors :: Phillip E. Pfeifer, Dana Clyman, Laura Kornish, Jim Smith

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: Decision making, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B)" written by Phillip E. Pfeifer, Dana Clyman, Laura Kornish, Jim Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Olive Calambra facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Olive Calambra, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Olive Calambra 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Olive Calambra
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 Olive Calambra




Strengths Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Olive Calambra in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Olive Calambra 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Olive Calambra is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Olive Calambra 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 Olive Calambra is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Olive Calambra to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Olive Calambra to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Olive Calambra 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.

Organizational Resilience of Olive Calambra

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Olive Calambra does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Olive Calambra 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Olive Calambra 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Olive Calambra in the sector have low bargaining power. Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Olive Calambra to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Olive Calambra is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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.

Analytics focus

– Olive Calambra 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 Phillip E. Pfeifer, Dana Clyman, Laura Kornish, Jim Smith 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.






Weaknesses Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Olive Calambra, firm in the HBR case study Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Olive Calambra 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Olive Calambra products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Olive Calambra needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Olive Calambra 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 Olive Calambra 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Olive Calambra 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 - Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Olive Calambra has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Olive Calambra 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Olive Calambra 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B), it seems that the employees of Olive Calambra 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B), 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.




Opportunities Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) | 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Olive Calambra 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Olive Calambra 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 Olive Calambra to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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 Olive Calambra 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Olive Calambra 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Olive Calambra to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Olive Calambra can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– Olive Calambra 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Olive Calambra 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Olive Calambra 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Olive Calambra is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Olive Calambra can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Olive Calambra operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Olive Calambra 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Olive Calambra has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Olive Calambra to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) case study. Olive Calambra 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 Olive Calambra to increase its market reach. Olive Calambra 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.




Threats Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Olive Calambra with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Olive Calambra 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 dependence on third party suppliers

– Olive Calambra 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Olive Calambra can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Environmental challenges

– Olive Calambra 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. Olive Calambra can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Olive Calambra 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B), Olive Calambra 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 .

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. Olive Calambra 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Olive Calambra 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) .

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 Olive Calambra business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Olive Calambra is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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 Olive Calambra in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Liquid Gold: Calambra Olive Oil (B) 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 Olive Calambra needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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