Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd
This case discusses the trajectory taken by a Singapore-based entrepreneur who embarked on a multimillion business venture to turn food waste into energy. The brainchild of Edwin Khew, a veteran in the waste management business, IUT Global was formed in 2005 to set up and operate Singapore's first organic waste treatment plant. IUT's bio-methanisation plant was an ambitious project. Budgeted at $60 million, the plant was designed to process 800 tonnes of food waste and produce 10 megawatts of electricity most of which would be sold to Singapore's national electricity grid. Investors were optimistic that with their state of the art process technology and a ready customer, the plant would generate a steady income stream once it was set up and running. However, from the start of production although less than 10% of food waste in Singapore was being recycled, IUT encountered problems in the collection of food waste needed to feed its plant. It was unable to collect enough food waste and those collected contained a higher percentage of contaminants than projected. Furthermore, food operators resisted the need to separate food waste from solid waste. Unable to meet its production targets, and after three years of losses, in 2011, IUT entered into liquidation, and with it the closure of Singapore's first large scale food waste-to-energy facility. The case explores the following topics: First mover pitfalls in a sustainable energy venture; Analysis of new venture business plans; Implementation challenges for start-ups; Assumption testing/sensitivity analysis in costing of new ventures.
Swot Analysis of "Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd" written by Beng Geok Wee, Priya Subramanian, Thiruneeran Murugavel, Stephanie Tan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Waste Iut facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Waste Iut, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Waste Iut 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Waste Iut
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 Waste Iut
Strengths Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Waste Iut in Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Waste Iut digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Waste Iut 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)
– Waste Iut 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd - 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
– Waste Iut 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Waste Iut to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Waste Iut to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Waste Iut
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Waste Iut does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Waste Iut is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Waste Iut in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Waste Iut 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Waste Iut 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Waste Iut in the sector have low bargaining power. Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Waste Iut to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Waste Iut has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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.
Weaknesses Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Waste Iut has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Waste Iut 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Waste Iut 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd, is just above the industry average. Waste Iut 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Waste Iut, firm in the HBR case study Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Waste Iut is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Waste Iut needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Waste Iut to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Waste Iut supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Waste Iut vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Waste Iut products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Waste Iut needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Waste Iut 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 Waste Iut 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 - Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd | 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Waste Iut to increase its market reach. Waste Iut 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Waste Iut 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Waste Iut has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Waste Iut to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd case study. Waste Iut can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Waste Iut 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.
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. Waste Iut 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. Waste Iut 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Waste Iut can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Waste Iut operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Waste Iut 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 Waste Iut 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Waste Iut 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Waste Iut 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Waste Iut 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 Waste Iut to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Waste Iut can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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.
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 Waste Iut in the consumer business. Now Waste Iut can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd are -
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 Waste Iut.
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 Waste Iut in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Waste Iut 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. Waste Iut can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Waste Iut has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Waste Iut 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd, Waste Iut 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 .
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.
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 Waste Iut business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Waste Iut with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Waste Iut 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.
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. Waste Iut needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Waste Iut
– 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 Waste Iut.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Waste Iut is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Recycling Food Waste to Energy - First Mover Pitfalls: IUT Global Pte Ltd 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 Waste Iut needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.