Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals
Rio Tinto, a major multinational mining company, signed a contract with the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee to supply all the gold, silver and copper for medals to be awarded at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Just three months before the opening ceremonies, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, titled Operation Greenwash Gold, combined with labour unions in Canada, Australia and around the world representing millions of workers to protest Rio Tinto's alleged environmental, human rights and labour relations abuses. A number of damaging social media campaigns aimed to get the Olympic committees to cancel Rio Tinto's contract were supplemented by street protests in front of the company's headquarters during its annual general meeting. Rio Tinto's chief executive officer must decide on a communications strategy in order to respond to its already tarnished reputation.
Swot Analysis of "Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals" written by Jana Seijts, Benjamin Bigio includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rio Olympic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rio Olympic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rio Olympic 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rio Olympic
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 Rio Olympic
Strengths Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rio Olympic in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rio Olympic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Rio Olympic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Rio Olympic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rio Olympic 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Rio Olympic 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 Rio Olympic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Rio Olympic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rio Olympic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rio Olympic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rio Olympic 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.
Training and development
– Rio Olympic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic in the sector have low bargaining power. Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rio Olympic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Rio Olympic 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 Rio Olympic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Rio Olympic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rio Olympic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Rio Olympic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rio Olympic, firm in the HBR case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rio Olympic 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Rio Olympic 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rio Olympic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 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 Rio Olympic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Rio Olympic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rio Olympic is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals, it seems that the employees of Rio Olympic 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 Rio Olympic 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 - Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals, is just above the industry average. Rio Olympic 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals | 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Rio Olympic 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, Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals, 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 Rio Olympic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rio Olympic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals case study. Rio Olympic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rio Olympic 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rio Olympic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic 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 Rio Olympic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Rio Olympic 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.
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 Rio Olympic 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rio Olympic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rio Olympic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Rio Olympic 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Rio Olympic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rio Olympic to increase its market reach. Rio Olympic 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rio Olympic 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.
Threats Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals are -
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. Rio Olympic 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 Rio Olympic
– 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 Rio Olympic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rio Olympic is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rio Olympic 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.
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 Rio Olympic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rio Olympic 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals, Rio Olympic 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Rio Olympic 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rio Olympic 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.
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. Rio Olympic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Rio Olympic in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rio Olympic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rio Olympic 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.
Environmental challenges
– Rio Olympic 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. Rio Olympic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Operation Greenwash Gold : Rio Tinto and the Tainted Medals 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 Rio Olympic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
