Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionThe case concerns a fictitious chain of restaurants, Poisson's. Different outlets have different amounts of wastage - or the amount of fish that has to be thrown away each day. The chain's CEO, Christina Gauss, thinks the wastage figures represent a problem. To her, they indicate that too much fish is being thrown away. Using marginal analysis of the daily sales and wastage data available for a full-year that accompanies the case from two of Poisson's restaurants - one with low-wastage and the other with high-wastage - students are asked to identify what the problem at Poisson's is and what which of the possible causes are most likely given the data.
Swot Analysis of "Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making" written by Benjamin E. Hermalin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wastage Poisson's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wastage Poisson's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wastage Poisson's
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 Wastage Poisson's
Strengths Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wastage Poisson's in Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Wastage Poisson's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Wastage Poisson's 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 Wastage Poisson's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wastage Poisson's 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wastage Poisson's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wastage Poisson's 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.
High brand equity
– Wastage Poisson's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wastage Poisson's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wastage Poisson's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wastage Poisson's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wastage Poisson's in the sector have low bargaining power. Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wastage Poisson's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wastage Poisson's 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Wastage Poisson's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Wastage Poisson's 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.
Organizational Resilience of Wastage Poisson's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wastage Poisson's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wastage Poisson's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making, it seems that the employees of Wastage Poisson's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wastage Poisson's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wastage Poisson's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Wastage Poisson's, firm in the HBR case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wastage Poisson's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Wastage Poisson's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wastage Poisson's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Wastage Poisson's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wastage Poisson's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Wastage Poisson's 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wastage Poisson's 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 - Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making | 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making are -
Manufacturing automation
– Wastage Poisson's 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.
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. Wastage Poisson's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wastage Poisson's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wastage Poisson's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wastage Poisson's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making case study. Wastage Poisson's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Wastage Poisson's 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. Wastage Poisson's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wastage Poisson's 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 Wastage Poisson's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wastage Poisson's 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.
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 Wastage Poisson's 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.
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. Wastage Poisson's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wastage Poisson's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wastage Poisson's 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, Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Wastage Poisson's in the consumer business. Now Wastage Poisson's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wastage Poisson's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wastage Poisson's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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. Wastage Poisson's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wastage Poisson's 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making .
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. Wastage Poisson's 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.
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 Wastage Poisson's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Wastage Poisson's.
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. Wastage Poisson's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wastage Poisson's 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wastage Poisson's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wastage Poisson's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Wastage Poisson's 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. Wastage Poisson's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wastage Poisson's 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Name Your Poisson: A Case of Fishy Decision-making 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 Wastage Poisson's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.