West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth
In 2016, the founder and chief executive officer of West Paw Design (WPD) was faced with a growth dilemma: how could he align WPD's socially responsible ethos with his desire to expand business activities in the growing pet products market? Based in Bozeman, Montana, WPD developed, manufactured, and distributed pet products. The company was a certified "B Corporation," meaning its social and environmental credentials had been verified by an external organization, B Lab. The founder had to consider his options very carefully, because some of them could undermine or negate WPD's growth objectives, as well as its cherished B Corporation principles.
Authors :: Edward Gamble, Peter Moroz, Simon Parker, Jackie Art
Swot Analysis of "West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth" written by Edward Gamble, Peter Moroz, Simon Parker, Jackie Art includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wpd Wpd's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wpd Wpd's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wpd Wpd's 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wpd Wpd's
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 Wpd Wpd's
Strengths West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wpd Wpd's in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wpd Wpd's 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wpd Wpd's 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wpd Wpd's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wpd Wpd's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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.
Learning organization
- Wpd Wpd's 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 Wpd Wpd's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Wpd Wpd's 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 Edward Gamble, Peter Moroz, Simon Parker, Jackie Art 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wpd Wpd's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wpd Wpd's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Wpd Wpd's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wpd Wpd's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Wpd Wpd's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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
– Wpd Wpd's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Wpd Wpd's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wpd Wpd's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wpd Wpd's 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth - 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Wpd Wpd's 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
Wpd Wpd's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wpd Wpd's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Wpd Wpd's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wpd Wpd's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wpd Wpd's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wpd Wpd's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 Wpd Wpd's 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Edward Gamble, Peter Moroz, Simon Parker, Jackie Art suggests that, Wpd Wpd's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth HBR case study mentions - Wpd Wpd's 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.
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 Wpd Wpd's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wpd Wpd's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wpd Wpd's 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth, it seems that the employees of Wpd Wpd's 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.
Opportunities West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth | 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wpd Wpd's 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.
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. Wpd Wpd's 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. Wpd Wpd's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wpd Wpd's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wpd Wpd's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wpd Wpd's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wpd Wpd's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wpd Wpd's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wpd Wpd's 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wpd Wpd's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Wpd Wpd's in the consumer business. Now Wpd Wpd's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wpd Wpd's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wpd Wpd's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth case study. Wpd Wpd's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wpd Wpd's 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, West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Wpd Wpd's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wpd Wpd's 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.
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. Wpd Wpd's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wpd Wpd's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wpd Wpd's 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 Wpd Wpd's
– 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 Wpd Wpd's.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wpd Wpd's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wpd Wpd's 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 Wpd Wpd's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth, Wpd Wpd's 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. Wpd Wpd's 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, Wpd Wpd's 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth .
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. Wpd Wpd's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Wpd Wpd's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Wpd Wpd's needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Wpd Wpd's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 West Paw Design: B Corp Certification and Growth 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 Wpd Wpd's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
