The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel
This sequel reveals which actions the County took, and describes the outcome of each in brief. It also includes two exhibits: a summary of the "goals and actions" outlined in the adaptation section of the 2007 King County Climate Plan and a list of executive orders intended to reduce the county's contribution to global warming. In addition to addressing certain generic leadership challenges-how to navigate the difficult intersection of politics and science, how to think about uncertainty, how to plan for the long term, how to prove effective on both local and national stage-the case has the advantage of introducing readers to a compelling contemporary public issue, sure to grow in urgency worldwide. HKS Case Number 1906.1
Swot Analysis of "The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel" written by Pamela Varley, John D. Donahue includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that County Sequel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Policy, Strategic planning, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the County Sequel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which County Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of County Sequel
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 County Sequel
Strengths The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of County Sequel in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– County Sequel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– County Sequel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled County Sequel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of County Sequel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– County Sequel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled County Sequel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped County Sequel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– County Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– County Sequel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For County Sequel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. County Sequel 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– County Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– County Sequel 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 Pamela Varley, John D. Donahue 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.
Organizational Resilience of County Sequel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that County Sequel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, County Sequel 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, County Sequel 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel, it seems that the employees of County Sequel 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at County Sequel has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pamela Varley, John D. Donahue suggests that, County Sequel is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
County Sequel has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of County Sequel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. County Sequel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help County Sequel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, County Sequel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, County Sequel 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. County Sequel 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.
Need for greater diversity
– County Sequel 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.
Opportunities The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel | 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel are -
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. County Sequel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects County Sequel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, County Sequel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of County Sequel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help County Sequel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel case study. County Sequel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for County Sequel 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. County Sequel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for County Sequel 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for County Sequel 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 County Sequel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help County Sequel to increase its market reach. County Sequel 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.
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 County Sequel 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, County Sequel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that County Sequel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– County Sequel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at County Sequel 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.
Threats The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents County Sequel 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
– County Sequel 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, County Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel .
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 County Sequel.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– County Sequel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, County Sequel needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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 County Sequel 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.
Regulatory challenges
– County Sequel 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.
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 County Sequel in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– County Sequel 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.
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. County Sequel 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.
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. County Sequel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– County Sequel 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. County Sequel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 County Sequel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel
