Case Study Description of Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A)
In 2010, approximately 20,000 barrels of oil being shipped south by Enbridge spilled into Michigan's Talmadge Creek, contaminating wetlands around Battle Creek and the nearby county seat of Marshall, including a stretch of the Kalamazoo River. The timing of the incident could not have been worse. The pipeline had been carrying controversial tar sands oil at a time when Enbridge and its competitors were seeking to greatly expand their pipeline networks across North America. Moreover, the pipeline failure came on the heels of BP's much larger oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, amid a period of heightened public intolerance toward oil spills. As a result, Enbridge faced massive public relations (PR) and regulatory challenges. Enbridge's reputation was clearly at risk since the company had promoted itself as a true believer in corporate social responsibility, which had raised the stakes when dealing with the industrial accident. The CEO of Enbridge faced an almost impossible challenge. He needed to prove to American citizens - and to industry regulators, market watchers, company shareholders and Enbridge employees - that his company deserved to be judged on its own merits, not as a Canadian version of BP. To meet this challenge, he needed to demonstrate that Enbridge was run by people who not only wanted to make amends but could be trusted to do so.
Swot Analysis of "Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A)" written by Gerard Seijts, Thomas Watson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Enbridge Oil facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Enbridge Oil, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Enbridge Oil
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Enbridge Oil
Strengths Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Enbridge Oil in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Enbridge Oil in the sector have low bargaining power. Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Enbridge Oil to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Enbridge Oil 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Enbridge Oil is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Enbridge Oil in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Enbridge Oil
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Enbridge Oil does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Enbridge Oil has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Enbridge Oil 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Enbridge Oil is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Enbridge Oil in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Enbridge Oil is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Enbridge Oil digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Enbridge Oil 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Enbridge Oil is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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
– Enbridge Oil 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 Gerard Seijts, Thomas Watson 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Enbridge Oil, firm in the HBR case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Enbridge Oil 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 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 Enbridge Oil supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Enbridge Oil vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Enbridge Oil is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A), is just above the industry average. Enbridge Oil 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Enbridge Oil 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 - Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Oil has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Enbridge Oil products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Enbridge Oil needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A), it seems that the employees of Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Oil 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Opportunities Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) | 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Enbridge Oil in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Enbridge Oil is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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.
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 Enbridge Oil in the consumer business. Now Enbridge Oil can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Enbridge Oil 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. Enbridge Oil 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Oil to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Oil has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Enbridge Oil to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) case study. Enbridge Oil can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Enbridge Oil 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Enbridge Oil can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Enbridge Oil operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Enbridge Oil can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Enbridge Oil to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) are -
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. Enbridge Oil 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.
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 Enbridge Oil.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Enbridge Oil 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Enbridge Oil 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A), Enbridge Oil may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Enbridge Oil in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Enbridge Oil in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline 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 Enbridge Oil 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 Enbridge Oil with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Enbridge Oil 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Enbridge Oil 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. Enbridge Oil can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Michigan Oil Spill: Patrick Daniel's Challenge (A) 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 Enbridge Oil needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
