Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
Two Valmont Industries (an international leader in infrastructure products and services) colleagues, Robert (Bob) Meaney and Richard Berkland hoped to improve the lives of small and medium-sized farmers in the developing world through modern irrigation technology. In October 2015, they had already launched three pilot projects in Africa, each with a unique model of engaging local and global actors around center pivot irrigation technology. They were eager to understand the impact each model had on agricultural yields, water resource management, and farmer income, to create a model adaptable to different regions around the world.
Swot Analysis of "Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Renee Vuillaume includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Meaney Irrigation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Meaney Irrigation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Meaney Irrigation
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 Meaney Irrigation
Strengths Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Meaney Irrigation in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Renee Vuillaume 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Meaney Irrigation 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Meaney Irrigation in the sector have low bargaining power. Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Meaney Irrigation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Meaney Irrigation is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Meaney Irrigation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Meaney Irrigation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Meaney Irrigation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Meaney Irrigation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Meaney Irrigation has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Meaney Irrigation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Meaney Irrigation 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Meaney Irrigation 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. Meaney Irrigation 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Meaney Irrigation 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Meaney Irrigation, firm in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Meaney Irrigation 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Meaney Irrigation 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Meaney Irrigation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Meaney Irrigation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Meaney Irrigation to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Meaney Irrigation 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, it seems that the employees of Meaney Irrigation 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Meaney Irrigation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Meaney Irrigation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Meaney Irrigation 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.
Opportunities Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa | 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Meaney Irrigation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Meaney Irrigation 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. Meaney Irrigation 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.
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. Meaney Irrigation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Meaney Irrigation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Meaney Irrigation 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Meaney Irrigation 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Meaney Irrigation 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, Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Meaney Irrigation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Meaney Irrigation to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa case study. Meaney Irrigation can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Meaney Irrigation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Meaney Irrigation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Meaney Irrigation in the consumer business. Now Meaney Irrigation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
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. Meaney Irrigation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are -
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.
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 Meaney Irrigation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Meaney Irrigation 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.
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 Meaney Irrigation.
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. Meaney Irrigation 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Meaney Irrigation 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Meaney Irrigation is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Meaney Irrigation 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa .
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. Meaney Irrigation 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 Meaney Irrigation
– 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 Meaney Irrigation.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Meaney Irrigation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Meaney Irrigation 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Meaney Irrigation 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
– Meaney Irrigation 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. Meaney Irrigation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Meaney Irrigation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
