wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans
In 2011, the sole proprietor of wetlandPOOLS, a specialist installer of non-chemical swimming pools based in Johannesburg, South Africa, was looking at the design of his latest creation. He was satisfied with the work he had done, yet frustrated that it had taken so long to complete the project. His company had been in existence for 10 years. During that time, wetlandPOOLS had grown organically by taking on new projects as they arose. This approach allowed wetlandPOOLS to remain distinct from traditional pool builders and true to its original principles; however, its opportunities for growth appeared to be somewhat limited. The owner wondered how he could have the best of both worlds-owning a company that would operate efficiently and grow at a reasonable, sustainable pace, while also maintaining its unique nature. Gavin Price is affiliated with University of Pretoria.
Swot Analysis of "wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans" written by Gavin Price includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wetlandpools Installer facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wetlandpools Installer, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wetlandpools Installer 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wetlandpools Installer
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 Wetlandpools Installer
Strengths wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wetlandpools Installer in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Wetlandpools Installer is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Wetlandpools Installer has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wetlandpools Installer 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 Wetlandpools Installer in the sector have low bargaining power. wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wetlandpools Installer to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wetlandpools Installer in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 Wetlandpools Installer in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wetlandpools Installer has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Organizational Resilience of Wetlandpools Installer
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wetlandpools Installer does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wetlandpools Installer is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Wetlandpools Installer needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wetlandpools Installer to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Wetlandpools Installer 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. Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wetlandpools Installer products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wetlandpools Installer needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wetlandpools Installer 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 - wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wetlandpools Installer is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans, it seems that the employees of Wetlandpools Installer 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.
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 Wetlandpools Installer supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wetlandpools Installer vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 Wetlandpools Installer 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans | 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wetlandpools Installer 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.
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. Wetlandpools Installer can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 Wetlandpools Installer to increase its market reach. Wetlandpools Installer 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.
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 Wetlandpools Installer 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.
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. Wetlandpools Installer 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. Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wetlandpools Installer to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Wetlandpools Installer can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wetlandpools Installer 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 Wetlandpools Installer to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Threats wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans are -
Environmental challenges
– Wetlandpools Installer 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. Wetlandpools Installer can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wetlandpools Installer 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. Wetlandpools Installer 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans, Wetlandpools Installer 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 .
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.
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. Wetlandpools Installer needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wetlandpools Installer 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wetlandpools Installer 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 Wetlandpools Installer.
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 Wetlandpools Installer in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Wetlandpools Installer can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wetlandpools Installer has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wetlandpools Installer 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 wetlandPOOLS: Wetlands and Blue Oceans 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 Wetlandpools Installer needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
