Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
Two Valmont Industries (an international leader in infrastructure products and services) colleagues, Robert (Bob) Meaney and Richard Berkland hoped to improve the lives of small and medium-sized farmers in the developing world through modern irrigation technology. In October 2015, they had already launched three pilot projects in Africa, each with a unique model of engaging local and global actors around center pivot irrigation technology. They were eager to understand the impact each model had on agricultural yields, water resource management, and farmer income, to create a model adaptable to different regions around the world.
Swot Analysis of "Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Renee Vuillaume includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Meaney Irrigation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Meaney Irrigation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Meaney Irrigation
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 Meaney Irrigation
Strengths Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Meaney Irrigation in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Meaney Irrigation is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Meaney Irrigation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Meaney Irrigation 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Meaney Irrigation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Meaney Irrigation 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.
Training and development
– Meaney Irrigation has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Meaney Irrigation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Meaney Irrigation has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Meaney Irrigation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Renee Vuillaume 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Meaney Irrigation in the sector have low bargaining power. Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Meaney Irrigation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, is just above the industry average. Meaney Irrigation 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Meaney Irrigation has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Meaney Irrigation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Meaney Irrigation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Meaney Irrigation has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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 Meaney Irrigation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Meaney Irrigation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Meaney Irrigation 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the dynamic environment Meaney Irrigation has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Meaney Irrigation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, it seems that the employees of Meaney Irrigation don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa HBR case study mentions - Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Meaney Irrigation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Meaney Irrigation 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Meaney Irrigation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Meaney Irrigation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Meaney Irrigation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Meaney Irrigation 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, Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Meaney Irrigation to increase its market reach. Meaney Irrigation 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.
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. Meaney Irrigation 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. Meaney Irrigation 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Meaney Irrigation 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.
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 Meaney Irrigation in the consumer business. Now Meaney Irrigation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Meaney Irrigation in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Meaney Irrigation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Meaney Irrigation to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study. Meaney Irrigation can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
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. Meaney Irrigation can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Meaney Irrigation 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Meaney Irrigation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Meaney Irrigation 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.
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. Meaney Irrigation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Increasing wage structure of Meaney Irrigation
– 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 Meaney Irrigation.
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 Meaney Irrigation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Meaney Irrigation 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.
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 Meaney Irrigation in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Meaney Irrigation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
