Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance
This case describes the innovative business model of Better Place Inc., an electric vehicle company. The key challenges in operating the business model are explained and data is provided to help compute the costs, benefits, net profitability and economies of scale that it offers.
Swot Analysis of "Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance" written by Karan Girotra, Prash Pokala, Disha Gupta, Serguei Netessine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Electric Vehicle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Supply chain, Venture capital and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Electric Vehicle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Electric Vehicle 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Electric Vehicle
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 Electric Vehicle
Strengths Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Electric Vehicle in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Electric Vehicle 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 brand equity
– Electric Vehicle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Electric Vehicle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Electric Vehicle is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Electric Vehicle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Electric Vehicle 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.
Analytics focus
– Electric Vehicle 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 Karan Girotra, Prash Pokala, Disha Gupta, Serguei Netessine 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.
Learning organization
- Electric Vehicle 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 Electric Vehicle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Electric Vehicle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Electric Vehicle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Electric Vehicle is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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.
Training and development
– Electric Vehicle has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Electric Vehicle in the sector have low bargaining power. Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Electric Vehicle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Electric Vehicle 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 Electric Vehicle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Electric Vehicle 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance are -
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 Electric Vehicle supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Electric Vehicle vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Electric Vehicle products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Electric Vehicle needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Electric Vehicle is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance, in the dynamic environment Electric Vehicle has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Electric Vehicle has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Electric Vehicle needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance HBR case study mentions - Electric Vehicle 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Electric Vehicle 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Electric Vehicle 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Electric Vehicle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Electric Vehicle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Electric Vehicle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Electric Vehicle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Electric Vehicle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance | 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Electric Vehicle 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, Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Electric Vehicle 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.
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. Electric Vehicle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Electric Vehicle in the consumer business. Now Electric Vehicle can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Electric Vehicle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Electric Vehicle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Electric Vehicle can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Electric Vehicle 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Electric Vehicle to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Electric Vehicle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Electric Vehicle to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance case study. Electric Vehicle can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Electric Vehicle 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Electric Vehicle 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Electric Vehicle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Electric Vehicle 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 Electric Vehicle to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Electric Vehicle 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.
Threats Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Electric Vehicle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Electric Vehicle 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Electric Vehicle 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Electric Vehicle 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Electric Vehicle business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Electric Vehicle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Electric Vehicle 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.
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 Electric Vehicle in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Electric Vehicle 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Electric Vehicle 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.
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. Electric Vehicle 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 Electric Vehicle.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Electric Vehicle 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance 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 Electric Vehicle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.