Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green
Describes Terrapin Bright Green, an environmental consulting and strategic planning firm, and its approach for creating integrative, systematic solutions to green-building conundrums through consulting, research, and policy-related activities. Emphasis is placed on the role of integrated design and the intensive team-based "charrette" process in Terrapin's consulting work as well as on the design trends of biophilia and biomimicry. The case focuses on the sustainable redesign of 111 8th Avenue, New York, New York, to explore the challenge of managing strategic, intangible services in the context of Terrapin's more concrete focus historically. A serendipitous discovery leads the founders to consider how the firm could systematize its process while maintaining the flexibility that made it successful.
Authors :: Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot, Mary Saunders
Swot Analysis of "Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green" written by Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot, Mary Saunders includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Terrapin's Terrapin facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, Entrepreneurship, Financial management, Government, Growth strategy, Intellectual property, Marketing, Operations management, Organizational culture and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Terrapin's Terrapin, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Terrapin's Terrapin
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 Terrapin's Terrapin
Strengths Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Terrapin's Terrapin in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Terrapin's Terrapin in the sector have low bargaining power. Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Terrapin's Terrapin to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Terrapin's Terrapin is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Terrapin's Terrapin digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
High brand equity
– Terrapin's Terrapin has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Terrapin's Terrapin to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Terrapin's Terrapin to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Terrapin's Terrapin to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Terrapin's Terrapin is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Terrapin's Terrapin is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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.
Training and development
– Terrapin's Terrapin has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Organizational Resilience of Terrapin's Terrapin
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Terrapin's Terrapin does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot, Mary Saunders can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Terrapin's Terrapin products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Terrapin's Terrapin needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Terrapin's Terrapin has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green HBR case study mentions - Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green, in the dynamic environment Terrapin's Terrapin has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Terrapin's Terrapin has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Terrapin's Terrapin supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Terrapin's Terrapin vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Terrapin's Terrapin 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 - Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Terrapin's Terrapin 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Terrapin's Terrapin is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green | 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green are -
Loyalty marketing
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Terrapin's Terrapin to increase its market reach. Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
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. Terrapin's Terrapin can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Terrapin's Terrapin can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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.
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. Terrapin's Terrapin 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. Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Terrapin's Terrapin to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
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 Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Threats Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Terrapin's Terrapin with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Terrapin's Terrapin is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Terrapin's Terrapin 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. Terrapin's Terrapin needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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. Terrapin's Terrapin can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Terrapin's Terrapin 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 Terrapin's Terrapin.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Increasing wage structure of Terrapin's Terrapin
– 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 Terrapin's Terrapin.
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
– Terrapin's Terrapin 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green, Terrapin's Terrapin 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green 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 Terrapin's Terrapin needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
