EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
EcoWash is an all-in-one system that can be used to clean the interior and exterior of a vehicle in an environmentally friendly manner. A soon-to-be business school graduate has been approached by the inventor of EcoWash to embark on a partnership and to market the product. The opportunity looks promising, but a careful examination of the product and the market place - specifically through the lens of the lean start-up methodology - is needed before a final decision can be made. Atul Teckchandani is affiliated with California State University.
Swot Analysis of "EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?" written by Atul Teckchandani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ecowash Exterior facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ecowash Exterior, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ecowash Exterior 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ecowash Exterior
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 Ecowash Exterior
Strengths EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ecowash Exterior in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Ecowash Exterior has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ecowash Exterior in the sector have low bargaining power. EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ecowash Exterior to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Ecowash Exterior 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 Ecowash Exterior is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ecowash Exterior in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Ecowash Exterior is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Ecowash Exterior has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ecowash Exterior to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Ecowash Exterior is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ecowash Exterior is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ecowash Exterior 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ecowash Exterior 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ecowash Exterior 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ecowash Exterior is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ecowash Exterior 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. Ecowash Exterior 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ecowash Exterior 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 - EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ecowash Exterior is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Ecowash Exterior supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ecowash Exterior vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Ecowash Exterior 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, is just above the industry average. Ecowash Exterior 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, it seems that the employees of Ecowash Exterior 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Ecowash Exterior 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ecowash Exterior 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ecowash Exterior 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 Ecowash Exterior 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.
Opportunities EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ecowash Exterior to increase its market reach. Ecowash Exterior 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ecowash Exterior can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ecowash Exterior operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ecowash Exterior 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
– Ecowash Exterior has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ecowash Exterior 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ecowash Exterior can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ecowash Exterior is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ecowash Exterior 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 Ecowash Exterior to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ecowash Exterior 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ecowash Exterior can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Ecowash Exterior 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ecowash Exterior has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ecowash Exterior to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study. Ecowash Exterior 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 Ecowash Exterior 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.
Threats EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Ecowash Exterior in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Ecowash Exterior needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Ecowash Exterior 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ecowash Exterior 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.
Increasing wage structure of Ecowash Exterior
– 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 Ecowash Exterior.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ecowash Exterior is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, Ecowash Exterior 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ecowash Exterior 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ecowash Exterior has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ecowash Exterior 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.
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. Ecowash Exterior can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Ecowash Exterior business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Ecowash Exterior.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 EcoWash: A Business Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Ecowash Exterior needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
