Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall"
This case study focuses on Birgit Cameron, senior director of Patagonia Provisions, and several of her colleagues at both Patagonia Provisions and Patagonia as they attempt to increase the scale of sustainable agriculture. The company is attempting to scale up regenerative organic agriculture in two ways. First, Patagonia Provisions is seeking ways to increase the size of its own operations to grow sales and reduce input costs. Second, the company wants to influence the broader food production system, including the practices of other companies, in order to help reverse climate change. Scaling up its own operations will help Provisions become more profitable and potentially allow it to reduce consumer prices; it will also increase the positive environmental impact of Provisions. Influencing the practices of other food companies is key to Patagonia's broader goals of repairing the food chain and reversing climate change.
Authors :: William Rosenzweig, Alastair Iles, Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Robert Strand
Swot Analysis of "Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall"" written by William Rosenzweig, Alastair Iles, Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Robert Strand includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Provisions Patagonia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Provisions Patagonia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Provisions Patagonia 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Provisions Patagonia
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 Provisions Patagonia
Strengths Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Provisions Patagonia in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Provisions Patagonia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Provisions Patagonia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Provisions Patagonia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Provisions Patagonia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Provisions Patagonia 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Provisions Patagonia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Provisions Patagonia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Provisions Patagonia 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Provisions Patagonia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Provisions Patagonia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Provisions Patagonia 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 William Rosenzweig, Alastair Iles, Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Robert Strand 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Provisions Patagonia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Provisions Patagonia has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Diverse revenue streams
– Provisions Patagonia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall", it seems that the employees of Provisions Patagonia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Provisions Patagonia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Provisions Patagonia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Provisions Patagonia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Provisions Patagonia 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 Provisions Patagonia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall", it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Provisions Patagonia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Provisions Patagonia 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 Provisions Patagonia, firm in the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall", 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Provisions Patagonia 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Provisions Patagonia 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall", is just above the industry average. Provisions Patagonia 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Provisions Patagonia 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. Provisions Patagonia 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.
Opportunities Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" | 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Provisions Patagonia 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Provisions Patagonia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Provisions Patagonia to increase its market reach. Provisions Patagonia 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.
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. Provisions Patagonia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Provisions Patagonia 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Provisions Patagonia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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.
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. Provisions Patagonia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Provisions Patagonia 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 Provisions Patagonia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Provisions Patagonia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" case study. Provisions Patagonia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Provisions Patagonia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Provisions Patagonia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Threats Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Provisions Patagonia.
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 Provisions Patagonia in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
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. Provisions Patagonia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Provisions Patagonia
– 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 Provisions Patagonia.
Regulatory challenges
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Provisions Patagonia 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Provisions Patagonia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Provisions Patagonia 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Provisions Patagonia 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" .
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. Provisions Patagonia 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.
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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Reversing Climate Change Through Sustainable Food: Patagonia Provisions Attempts to Scale a "Big Wall" 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 Provisions Patagonia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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