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Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?


On July 19, 2013, the documentary Blackfish was released. The movie claimed to have uncovered a series of animal abuses at SeaWorld and alluded to the negative impact of captivity on orcas, known as killer whales, which had resulted in the harm and even death of whale trainers. Whether real or alleged, such negative publicity threatened to affect the company's image, stock prices, profits, and many of the company's corporate relations. SeaWorld now faced several options in terms of responding to the movie release: ignore it, respond to it, or use it as an opportunity to completely rebrand. Which option would be the best for the company in the long run? The authors are affiliated with University of Alberta.

Authors :: Joel Gehman, Kelly Lester, Patrick Ng, Jennifer McEwen

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?" written by Joel Gehman, Kelly Lester, Patrick Ng, Jennifer McEwen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Seaworld Blackfish facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?


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




Strengths Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Seaworld Blackfish in Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? Harvard Business Review case study are -

Organizational Resilience of Seaworld Blackfish

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

Training and development

– Seaworld Blackfish has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Seaworld Blackfish is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Analytics focus

– Seaworld Blackfish 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 Joel Gehman, Kelly Lester, Patrick Ng, Jennifer McEwen 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Seaworld Blackfish is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Seaworld Blackfish 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Seaworld Blackfish is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld Blackfish in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

High brand equity

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Seaworld Blackfish 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld Blackfish in the sector have low bargaining power. Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Seaworld Blackfish to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld Blackfish has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Seaworld Blackfish 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Seaworld Blackfish 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld Blackfish 's lucrative customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? HBR case study mentions - Seaworld Blackfish 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 Seaworld Blackfish products

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

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Seaworld Blackfish 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. Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?, in the dynamic environment Seaworld Blackfish has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Seaworld Blackfish has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.




Opportunities Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? | 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? are -

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Seaworld Blackfish 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 Seaworld Blackfish to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Developing new processes and practices

– Seaworld Blackfish 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.

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. Seaworld Blackfish can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Seaworld Blackfish to increase its market reach. Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Seaworld Blackfish can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Seaworld Blackfish 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.

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 Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Seaworld Blackfish can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Seaworld Blackfish 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, Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.




Threats Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? are -

Trade war between China and United States

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

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 Seaworld Blackfish business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Seaworld Blackfish 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. Seaworld Blackfish can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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.

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. Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Seaworld Blackfish 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.

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 Seaworld Blackfish.

Increasing wage structure of Seaworld Blackfish

– 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 Seaworld Blackfish.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Seaworld Blackfish 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Seaworld Blackfish has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Seaworld Blackfish 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish?, Seaworld Blackfish 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. Seaworld Blackfish needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld: Are Animal Shows Sustainable after Blackfish? 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 Seaworld Blackfish needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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