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 - – technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- County Sequel is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at County Sequel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– County Sequel 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 County Sequel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of County Sequel in the sector have low bargaining power. The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps County Sequel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– County Sequel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– County Sequel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. County Sequel 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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 County Sequel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left County Sequel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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 County Sequel 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of County Sequel, firm in the HBR case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel HBR case study mentions - County Sequel 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.
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 -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, County Sequel 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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– County Sequel 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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, County Sequel can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 County Sequel in the consumer business. Now County Sequel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– County Sequel 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 The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help County Sequel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– County Sequel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel 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.
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.
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 -
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 .
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. County Sequel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Challenge of Adapting to Climate Change: King County Brings Local Action to a Global Threat: Sequel, County Sequel 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 .
Increasing wage structure of County Sequel
– 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 County Sequel.
Consumer confidence and its impact on County Sequel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for County Sequel 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that County Sequel 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 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.
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