Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value
This case describes how Kimberly-Clark is working to encourage consumer recycling of flexible plastic film packaging, which is wrapped around many of its products, including paper towels, toilet paper, and more. An infrastructure already exists for consumers to return this film to retail stores for recycling, but estimated return rates remain low. Furthermore, Kimberly-Clark is not directly involved in the recycling transaction; retail stores collect the packaging and sell it to recycling companies. Kimberly-Clark is considering developing a consumer rewards program to incentivize store return of the packaging. Funding such a program will likely require Kimberly-Clark to identify new sources of value throughout the film-packaging lifecycle.
Authors :: Sara L. Beckman, Stefanie Robinson, Seren Pendleton-Knoll
Swot Analysis of "Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value" written by Sara L. Beckman, Stefanie Robinson, Seren Pendleton-Knoll includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kimberly Clark facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Growth strategy, Joint ventures, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kimberly Clark, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kimberly Clark 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kimberly Clark
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 Kimberly Clark
Strengths Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kimberly Clark in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Kimberly Clark 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 Sara L. Beckman, Stefanie Robinson, Seren Pendleton-Knoll 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kimberly Clark 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
– Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kimberly Clark to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kimberly Clark to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kimberly Clark digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kimberly Clark 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kimberly Clark 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Kimberly Clark 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 Kimberly Clark is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Kimberly Clark has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kimberly Clark to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Kimberly Clark is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kimberly Clark 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kimberly Clark in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Kimberly Clark has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Kimberly Clark is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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.
Weaknesses Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value are -
Need for greater diversity
– Kimberly Clark 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Kimberly Clark, firm in the HBR case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value HBR case study mentions - Kimberly Clark 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.
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 Kimberly Clark supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kimberly Clark vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sara L. Beckman, Stefanie Robinson, Seren Pendleton-Knoll suggests that, Kimberly Clark 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kimberly Clark 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value, it seems that the employees of Kimberly Clark 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value, is just above the industry average. Kimberly Clark 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kimberly Clark is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value, in the dynamic environment Kimberly Clark has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kimberly Clark has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kimberly Clark products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kimberly Clark needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value | 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value are -
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 Kimberly Clark in the consumer business. Now Kimberly Clark can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kimberly Clark 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, Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Kimberly Clark 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kimberly Clark 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kimberly Clark has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kimberly Clark to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value case study. Kimberly Clark can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Kimberly Clark 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. Kimberly Clark 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kimberly Clark to increase its market reach. Kimberly Clark 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kimberly Clark 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Kimberly Clark 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kimberly Clark can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kimberly Clark operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kimberly Clark 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kimberly Clark to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Kimberly Clark 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kimberly Clark 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.
Threats Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value are -
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 Kimberly Clark in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kimberly Clark is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Kimberly Clark 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.
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. Kimberly Clark 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.
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 Kimberly Clark.
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 Kimberly Clark business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 wage structure of Kimberly Clark
– 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 Kimberly Clark.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kimberly Clark 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kimberly Clark 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.
Environmental challenges
– Kimberly Clark 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. Kimberly Clark can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Kimberly Clark with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Kimberly Clark needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value 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 Kimberly Clark needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.