Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar
This case looks at the Ambatovy mining project in Madagascar, which involves exploring and exploiting a giant nickel and cobalt mine near Moramanga, on Madagascar's east coast. The project could bring important economic and social development to Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world but requires a high level of commitment to environmental protection along with the support of local communities. The company is developing programs to compensate for its ecological footprint and to achieve the goal of "no net loss" of biodiversity. The case gives a history of the project, the main actions taken, and the results delivered by the company while attempting to engage in "sustainable exploration and exploitation" and to be a "responsible" corporate citizen. The company's perspective of the social, economic, and environmental issues surrounding the project is compared with that of two other stakeholders: the government and local communities.
Swot Analysis of "Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar" written by Maryne Drouet, Luciano Barin-Cruz includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Madagascar Ambatovy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Ethics, Manufacturing, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Madagascar Ambatovy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Madagascar Ambatovy 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Madagascar Ambatovy
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 Madagascar Ambatovy
Strengths Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Madagascar Ambatovy in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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 Madagascar Ambatovy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Madagascar Ambatovy is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Madagascar Ambatovy is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Madagascar Ambatovy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Madagascar Ambatovy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Madagascar Ambatovy in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Madagascar Ambatovy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Madagascar Ambatovy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Madagascar Ambatovy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Madagascar Ambatovy is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Madagascar Ambatovy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Weaknesses Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar, is just above the industry average. Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar, in the dynamic environment Madagascar Ambatovy has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Madagascar Ambatovy has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Madagascar Ambatovy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Madagascar Ambatovy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Madagascar Ambatovy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Madagascar Ambatovy 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Madagascar Ambatovy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar, it seems that the employees of Madagascar Ambatovy 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Madagascar Ambatovy is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Madagascar Ambatovy 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Madagascar Ambatovy 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. Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Opportunities Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar | 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Madagascar Ambatovy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Madagascar Ambatovy 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. Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Madagascar Ambatovy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Madagascar Ambatovy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar case study. Madagascar Ambatovy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Madagascar Ambatovy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
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. Madagascar Ambatovy can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Madagascar Ambatovy can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Madagascar Ambatovy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Madagascar Ambatovy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Madagascar Ambatovy can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Madagascar Ambatovy is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Madagascar Ambatovy 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 Madagascar Ambatovy 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
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.
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. Madagascar Ambatovy can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Madagascar Ambatovy
– 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 Madagascar Ambatovy.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Madagascar Ambatovy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
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 Madagascar Ambatovy.
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 Madagascar Ambatovy in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar, Madagascar Ambatovy 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 .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Madagascar Ambatovy 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Corporate Citizenship in Mining Projects: The Case of the Ambatovy Project in Madagascar 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 Madagascar Ambatovy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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