Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B)
The case study focuses on risk management practices at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, in particular the organization's crisis preparedness to ensure business continuity. The case provides detailed information on the dairy industry as well as the specific operations of Maryland & Virginia. It can be included in a risk management discussion within the context of supply chain management for an MBA or executive audience.
Authors :: Sarah Goldthwait Shoemaker, Enver Yucesan
Swot Analysis of "Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B)" written by Sarah Goldthwait Shoemaker, Enver Yucesan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maryland Virginia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Risk management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maryland Virginia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maryland Virginia
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 Maryland Virginia
Strengths Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maryland Virginia in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Maryland Virginia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Maryland Virginia 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
– Maryland Virginia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Maryland Virginia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Maryland Virginia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maryland Virginia 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Maryland Virginia has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Maryland Virginia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Maryland Virginia 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 Maryland Virginia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maryland Virginia 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
– Maryland Virginia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Maryland Virginia in the sector have low bargaining power. Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maryland Virginia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Maryland Virginia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Maryland Virginia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) are -
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 Maryland Virginia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Maryland Virginia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B), in the dynamic environment Maryland Virginia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maryland Virginia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maryland Virginia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Maryland Virginia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Maryland Virginia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Maryland Virginia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Maryland Virginia, firm in the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maryland Virginia 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 - Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Maryland Virginia 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) HBR case study mentions - Maryland Virginia 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B), 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) | 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Maryland Virginia 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, Maryland Virginia 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 Maryland Virginia to increase its market reach. Maryland Virginia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maryland Virginia 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.
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. Maryland Virginia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maryland Virginia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maryland Virginia 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.
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 Maryland Virginia in the consumer business. Now Maryland Virginia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maryland Virginia 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 Maryland Virginia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Maryland Virginia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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.
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 Maryland Virginia 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Maryland Virginia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Maryland Virginia.
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 Maryland Virginia in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Maryland Virginia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Maryland Virginia 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Maryland Virginia 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Maryland Virginia
– 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 Maryland Virginia.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Maryland Virginia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Maryland Virginia 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maryland Virginia is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (B) 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 Maryland Virginia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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