Case Study Description of Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums
This case centers on Sanergy, a five-plus-year-old hybrid organization, that has become a high profile, high growth, social enterprise, known initially for its Fresh Life toilets deployed in the Mukuru and Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Sanergy's co-founders launched their social startup out of the 2011 MIT 100K business plan challenge and quickly received national attention in the press. By 2013, the firm had raised a "Series A" equity round from Acumen, Eleos Investment Management (Eleos) and Novastar, the team had also begun its operations in Kenya to more rapidly build-out both sides of its business: (1) in its non-profit business, deploying Fresh Life Toilets to improving access to hygienic sanitation in Nairobi's informal settlements sanitation business, largely using a franchisee model; and (2) in its for-profit fertilizer business, with its Evergrow Organic Fertilizer, produced by Farm Star, sold to small- and medium-sized farmers in need of rich soil supplements. This case examines both Sanergy's hybrid business model and "sustainable sanitation value chain" in detail and explores the challenges the social enterprise entity will face as it continues to scale up both businesses and seeks to reach the breakeven point by 2018.
Swot Analysis of "Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums" written by Jennifer Walske, Laura D. Tyson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sanitation Eleos facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sanitation Eleos, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sanitation Eleos
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 Sanitation Eleos
Strengths Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sanitation Eleos in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sanitation Eleos has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sanitation Eleos 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
– Sanitation Eleos has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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
– Sanitation Eleos is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sanitation Eleos is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sanitation Eleos to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sanitation Eleos to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums - 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
– Sanitation Eleos is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Sanitation Eleos has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sanitation Eleos to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sanitation Eleos in the sector have low bargaining power. Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sanitation Eleos to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sanitation Eleos 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sanitation Eleos digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sanitation Eleos 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.
Weaknesses Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Sanitation Eleos products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sanitation Eleos needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sanitation Eleos 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jennifer Walske, Laura D. Tyson suggests that, Sanitation Eleos 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sanitation Eleos 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 - Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sanitation Eleos 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. Sanitation Eleos 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sanitation Eleos is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sanitation Eleos 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 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 Sanitation Eleos supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sanitation Eleos vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sanitation Eleos 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sanitation Eleos is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sanitation Eleos is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sanitation Eleos needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sanitation Eleos to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums | 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanitation Eleos to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sanitation Eleos 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, Sanitation Eleos 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, Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sanitation Eleos 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Sanitation Eleos can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sanitation Eleos 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sanitation Eleos to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sanitation Eleos 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sanitation Eleos has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sanitation Eleos to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums case study. Sanitation Eleos can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Sanitation Eleos can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanitation Eleos in the consumer business. Now Sanitation Eleos can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sanitation Eleos is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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.
Threats Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sanitation Eleos is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Sanitation Eleos 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sanitation Eleos with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Sanitation Eleos 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. Sanitation Eleos can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Sanitation Eleos needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Sanitation Eleos.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sanitation Eleos 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sanitation Eleos
– 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 Sanitation Eleos.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums, Sanitation Eleos 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanitation Eleos in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sanitation Eleos has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sanitation Eleos 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums 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 Sanitation Eleos needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.