The Road to Tortuguero SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Road to Tortuguero
The case presents a decision facing a tour guide organization in Tortuguero, Costa Rica regarding environmental sustainability and social equity. Tortuguero was situated on a spit of land, isolated from the rest of the country due to the ocean, rivers, and a protected national park. It was inaccessible by road. Tortuguero was home to the most prolific nesting beach for giant sea turtles in the Atlantic. Turtle-based tourism was the basis of the tiny village's economy. Daryl Loth, President of the Tortuguero Tour Guide Association (TGA), had to oversee a meeting of the TGA, a self-organized group of local tour guides in the village. The TGA had collected a fee of about 40 US cents from each tourist taking a turtle tour and was going to choose one of three proposals for spending its $30K of revenues from the past two years. Community members were permitted to comment at TGA meetings, and some had argued that spending money on a road to Tortuguero would launch an increase in tourists; accessibility to health care, higher education, and lower priced goods and services; and hence, an increase in prosperity and their constitutional right to social equity. Some TGA members believed that an increase in tourists would lead to more business for them and the village businesses, plus greater awareness for the plight of the endangered green sea turtles. Others believed the lack of convenient access to the village was one reason they had been able to protect the turtles and attract new and repeat tourists. This case stimulates discussion of the following questions: What effects would the decision have on the community, the turtles, and the sustainability of ecotourism in Tortuguero in the short and longer term? Should environmental sustainability take precedence over social equity and ready access to medical care, university education, and lower prices for staple goods? What is the ethical choice?
Authors :: Cheri A. Young, Terry G. Nicholas, David L. Corsun, Daryl Loth
Swot Analysis of "The Road to Tortuguero" written by Cheri A. Young, Terry G. Nicholas, David L. Corsun, Daryl Loth includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tortuguero Tga facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Road to Tortuguero case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Road to Tortuguero casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Road to Tortuguero
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Road to Tortuguero case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tortuguero Tga, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tortuguero Tga 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 Road to Tortuguero can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Road to Tortuguero case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tortuguero Tga
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 Tortuguero Tga
Strengths The Road to Tortuguero | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tortuguero Tga in The Road to Tortuguero Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Road to Tortuguero firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tortuguero Tga to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tortuguero Tga to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Tortuguero Tga has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Road to Tortuguero 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tortuguero Tga in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tortuguero Tga 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
– Tortuguero Tga 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 Tortuguero Tga digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tortuguero Tga 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.
High brand equity
– Tortuguero Tga has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tortuguero Tga to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tortuguero Tga 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 Road to Tortuguero - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tortuguero Tga 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tortuguero Tga is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Road to Tortuguero are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Tortuguero Tga 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 Tortuguero Tga is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Road to Tortuguero Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Tortuguero Tga 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 Cheri A. Young, Terry G. Nicholas, David L. Corsun, Daryl Loth can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses The Road to Tortuguero | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Road to Tortuguero are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tortuguero Tga is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Road to Tortuguero can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Tortuguero Tga supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Road to Tortuguero, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tortuguero Tga vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Road to Tortuguero, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Tortuguero Tga 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Road to Tortuguero HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Tortuguero Tga has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Road to Tortuguero 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 The Road to Tortuguero can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tortuguero Tga is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tortuguero Tga 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. Tortuguero Tga 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tortuguero Tga 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 - The Road to Tortuguero should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tortuguero Tga is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Tortuguero Tga needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tortuguero Tga to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Road to Tortuguero HBR case study mentions - Tortuguero Tga 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Road to Tortuguero, is just above the industry average. Tortuguero Tga 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.
Opportunities The Road to Tortuguero | 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 Road to Tortuguero are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tortuguero Tga can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Tortuguero Tga in the consumer business. Now Tortuguero Tga 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 Tortuguero Tga 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 Tortuguero Tga to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Tortuguero Tga can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tortuguero Tga can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Tortuguero Tga can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tortuguero Tga 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.
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 Tortuguero Tga to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tortuguero Tga has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tortuguero Tga to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Road to Tortuguero case study. Tortuguero Tga can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tortuguero Tga 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tortuguero Tga can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Tortuguero Tga 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, Tortuguero Tga 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 Tortuguero Tga to increase its market reach. Tortuguero Tga 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.
Threats The Road to Tortuguero External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Road to Tortuguero are -
Environmental challenges
– Tortuguero Tga 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. Tortuguero Tga can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Tortuguero Tga business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Tortuguero Tga in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Tortuguero Tga
– 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 Tortuguero Tga.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tortuguero Tga 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.
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. Tortuguero Tga can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tortuguero Tga 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 Road to Tortuguero .
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 Road to Tortuguero, Tortuguero Tga 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tortuguero Tga 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tortuguero Tga has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tortuguero Tga 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.
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. Tortuguero Tga 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Tortuguero Tga 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Road to Tortuguero 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 Road to Tortuguero 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 Road to Tortuguero 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 Road to Tortuguero 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 Road to Tortuguero 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 Tortuguero Tga needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.