Case Study Description of Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference
Supplements the (A) case. Includes excerpts from speeches by Ecolab president Al Schuman, CEO Sandy Grieve, and three senior sales executives, and highlights the camaraderie and goodwill among senior executives of Ecolab's Institutional Division. May be used in place of the video.
Swot Analysis of "Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference" written by Ashish Nanda includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ecolab Grieve facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Sales and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ecolab Grieve, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ecolab Grieve
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 Ecolab Grieve
Strengths Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ecolab Grieve in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ecolab Grieve to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ecolab Grieve to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab Grieve in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Ecolab Grieve is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Ecolab Grieve has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ecolab Grieve to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ecolab Grieve in the sector have low bargaining power. Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ecolab Grieve to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Training and development
– Ecolab Grieve has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab Grieve 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
- Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab Grieve is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ecolab Grieve in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ecolab Grieve has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ecolab Grieve 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.
Weaknesses Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ecolab Grieve 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ecolab Grieve is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Ecolab Grieve needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ecolab Grieve to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Ecolab Grieve 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ecolab Grieve 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, Ashish Nanda suggests that, Ecolab Grieve 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ecolab Grieve, firm in the HBR case study Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference, in the dynamic environment Ecolab Grieve has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ecolab Grieve has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ecolab Grieve products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ecolab Grieve needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab Grieve has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ecolab Grieve 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 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 Ecolab Grieve supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ecolab Grieve vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference | 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference are -
Loyalty marketing
– Ecolab Grieve 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ecolab Grieve to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Ecolab Grieve 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ecolab Grieve 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, Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ecolab Grieve to increase its market reach. Ecolab Grieve 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ecolab Grieve can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ecolab Grieve is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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.
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 Ecolab Grieve 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.
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. Ecolab Grieve can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ecolab Grieve 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ecolab Grieve 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.
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 Ecolab Grieve in the consumer business. Now Ecolab Grieve can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab Grieve to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ecolab Grieve 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference .
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 Ecolab Grieve business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Ecolab Grieve
– 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 Ecolab Grieve.
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. Ecolab Grieve 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.
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. Ecolab Grieve needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ecolab Grieve 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
– Ecolab Grieve can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ecolab Grieve 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.
Environmental challenges
– Ecolab Grieve 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. Ecolab Grieve can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Ecolab Grieve in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ecolab Grieve is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ecolab Grieve with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference 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 Ecolab Grieve needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.