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Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press


When the Seattle Solid Waste Utility, the department responsible for trash pick-up and disposal, moved during 1988-90 to introduce curbside recycling and other dramatic changes in garbage collection, director Diana Gale believed presentation of the utility's plans to the press would be crucial to their prospects for public acceptance. This case recounts the elaborate but successful strategies Gale employed, ranging from training sessions for utility employees run by former television news anchors, to the advent of the utility's own weekly newsletter to track problems and changes in the new garbage program. HKS Case Number 1058.0

Authors :: Howard Husock

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Government, IT, Project management, Public relations, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press" written by Howard Husock includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Garbage Gale facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, IT, Project management, Public relations, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Garbage Gale, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Garbage Gale 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Garbage Gale
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 Garbage Gale




Strengths Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Garbage Gale in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press Harvard Business Review case study are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Garbage Gale has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Garbage Gale is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Garbage Gale is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Analytics focus

– Garbage Gale 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 Howard Husock 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.

Organizational Resilience of Garbage Gale

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Garbage Gale does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

High brand equity

– Garbage Gale has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Garbage Gale to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Garbage Gale in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Innovation driven organization

– Garbage Gale is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Training and development

– Garbage Gale has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Garbage Gale 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.

Learning organization

- Garbage Gale 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 Garbage Gale is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Garbage Gale 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press are -

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press, in the dynamic environment Garbage Gale has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Garbage Gale has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Garbage Gale 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Garbage Gale 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Garbage Gale has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Howard Husock suggests that, Garbage Gale is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press, it seems that the employees of Garbage Gale 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press, is just above the industry average. Garbage Gale 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Garbage Gale is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Garbage Gale needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Garbage Gale to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Garbage Gale is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Garbage Gale, firm in the HBR case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Garbage Gale 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. Garbage Gale 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.




Opportunities Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press | 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Garbage Gale 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Garbage Gale 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Garbage Gale to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Garbage Gale 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.

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 Garbage Gale 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Garbage Gale 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Garbage Gale can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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 Garbage Gale in the consumer business. Now Garbage Gale can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Developing new processes and practices

– Garbage Gale can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Garbage Gale to increase its market reach. Garbage Gale 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.

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. Garbage Gale can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Garbage Gale 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Garbage Gale 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Garbage Gale can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Garbage Gale operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.




Threats Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press are -

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 Garbage Gale in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Garbage Gale 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Garbage Gale 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press .

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. Garbage Gale can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Garbage Gale 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Garbage Gale has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Garbage Gale 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

– Garbage Gale 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. Garbage Gale can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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 Garbage Gale business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 Garbage Gale.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Garbage Gale with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Regulatory challenges

– Garbage Gale 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.

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. Garbage Gale needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Garbage Gale needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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