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Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging


In July 2004, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of Greater London, had to decide whether or not to expand the system of congestion charging he had implemented 17 months earlier. Skeptics had predicted fierce popular opposition or chaos from the original scheme, which required that cars and trucks pay a charge of A?5 (US$7.95) to enter an 8-square-mile area of Central London between the hours of 7:00 am and 6:30 pm, Monday through Friday. The critics were confounded, however, when the A?5 charge resulted in a substantial reduction in Central London congestion and the payment and enforcement mechanisms proved to be remarkably convenient and fair. The Mayor's proposal to extend the A?5 charge to a congested area immediately to the west seemed risky, however, since the technical and political problems of charging might grow disproportionately with the size of the charging zone. HKS Case Number 1788.0

Authors :: Jose Gomez-Ibanez

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Financial analysis, Innovation, Leadership, Policy, Project management, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging" written by Jose Gomez-Ibanez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Charging Congestion facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Innovation, Leadership, Policy, Project management, Strategic planning and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Charging Congestion, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Charging Congestion 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Charging Congestion
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 Charging Congestion




Strengths Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Charging Congestion in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Charging Congestion 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Innovation driven organization

– Charging Congestion is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Charging Congestion in the sector have low bargaining power. Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Charging Congestion to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Learning organization

- Charging Congestion 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 Charging Congestion is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Charging Congestion 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Charging Congestion 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

– Charging Congestion has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Charging Congestion to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– Charging Congestion has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Charging Congestion has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Charging Congestion to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Charging Congestion to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of Charging Congestion

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Charging Congestion does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.






Weaknesses Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Charging Congestion, firm in the HBR case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jose Gomez-Ibanez suggests that, Charging Congestion 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Charging Congestion 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 - Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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 Charging Congestion supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Charging Congestion vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging, is just above the industry average. Charging Congestion 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Charging Congestion is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Charging Congestion 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. Charging Congestion 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging HBR case study mentions - Charging Congestion 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Charging Congestion products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Charging Congestion needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging, 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Charging Congestion 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.




Opportunities Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging | 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Charging Congestion 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.

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 Charging Congestion 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, Charging Congestion can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Charging Congestion operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Charging Congestion 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Charging Congestion has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Charging Congestion to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging case study. Charging Congestion can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Developing new processes and practices

– Charging Congestion 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Charging Congestion can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Charging Congestion to increase its market reach. Charging Congestion will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Charging Congestion can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Charging Congestion 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, Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Charging Congestion 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Charging Congestion to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Charging Congestion 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Charging Congestion can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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.




Threats Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Charging Congestion 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Charging Congestion 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Charging Congestion 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging, Charging Congestion 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 .

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. Charging Congestion needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Charging Congestion can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Charging Congestion.

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. Charging Congestion 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Charging Congestion 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Charging Congestion 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 Charging Congestion is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Charging Congestion 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Congestion Charging in London (B): The Economics of Charging 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 Charging Congestion needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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