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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, 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 -
Innovation driven organization
– Tortuguero Tga is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Road to Tortuguero Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tortuguero Tga in the sector have low bargaining power. The Road to Tortuguero has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tortuguero Tga to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tortuguero Tga has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tortuguero Tga 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.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Road to Tortuguero 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.
Organizational Resilience of Tortuguero Tga
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tortuguero Tga does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tortuguero Tga 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tortuguero Tga 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.
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.
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tortuguero Tga 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.
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.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Cheri A. Young, Terry G. Nicholas, David L. Corsun, Daryl Loth suggests that, Tortuguero Tga 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Road to Tortuguero, in the dynamic environment Tortuguero Tga has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tortuguero Tga has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
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.
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 -
Developing new processes and practices
– Tortuguero Tga 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tortuguero Tga 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 Road to Tortuguero, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Tortuguero Tga can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Road to Tortuguero 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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tortuguero Tga 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 Road to Tortuguero - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tortuguero Tga to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tortuguero Tga can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tortuguero Tga operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Tortuguero Tga can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tortuguero Tga is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Road to Tortuguero 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tortuguero Tga with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Tortuguero Tga.
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 .
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tortuguero Tga 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.
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.
