Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A)
The case study focuses on risk management practices at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, in particular the organization's crisis preparedness to ensure business continuity. The case provides detailed information on the dairy industry as well as the specific operations of Maryland & Virginia. It can be included in a risk management discussion within the context of supply chain management for an MBA or executive audience.
Authors :: Sarah Goldthwait Shoemaker, Enver Yucesan
Swot Analysis of "Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A)" written by Sarah Goldthwait Shoemaker, Enver Yucesan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maryland Virginia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Risk management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maryland Virginia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maryland Virginia
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 Maryland Virginia
Strengths Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maryland Virginia in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Maryland Virginia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Maryland Virginia 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Maryland Virginia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Maryland Virginia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Maryland Virginia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Maryland Virginia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Maryland Virginia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maryland Virginia 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Maryland Virginia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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
– Maryland Virginia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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.
Training and development
– Maryland Virginia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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
– Maryland Virginia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Maryland Virginia has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A), it seems that the employees of Maryland Virginia 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maryland Virginia 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 - Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maryland Virginia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A), is just above the industry average. Maryland Virginia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Maryland Virginia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Maryland Virginia 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Maryland Virginia 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Maryland Virginia 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. Maryland Virginia 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Maryland Virginia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) | 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Maryland Virginia 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 Maryland Virginia in the consumer business. Now Maryland Virginia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Maryland Virginia to increase its market reach. Maryland Virginia will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maryland Virginia 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. Maryland Virginia 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. Maryland Virginia 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Maryland Virginia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Maryland Virginia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maryland Virginia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Maryland Virginia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Maryland Virginia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Maryland Virginia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Maryland Virginia 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 Maryland Virginia 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maryland Virginia is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Maryland Virginia
– 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 Maryland Virginia.
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 Maryland Virginia.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maryland Virginia 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A), Maryland Virginia 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Environmental challenges
– Maryland Virginia 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. Maryland Virginia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Maryland Virginia in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Maryland Virginia 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Maryland Virginia 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Managing Risk to Ensure Business Continuity at Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative (A) 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 Maryland Virginia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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