Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
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
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 - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Garbage Gale is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Garbage Gale to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Garbage Gale to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Garbage Gale 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Garbage Gale is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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 Garbage Gale 's lucrative 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.
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 Garbage Gale supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Garbage Gale vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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.
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 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Garbage Gale 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.
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 -
Loyalty marketing
– Garbage Gale 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Garbage Gale 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. Garbage Gale 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Garbage Gale is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Garbage Gale has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Garbage Gale to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press case study. Garbage Gale can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 -
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.
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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Please be Patient: The Seattle Solid Waste Utility Meets the Press, Garbage Gale 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 .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Garbage Gale 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.
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.
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.
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. Garbage Gale 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Garbage Gale 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.
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.
