The Nature Conservancy: Advocating for and Investing in Sustainable Water Management

STRENGTHS

Strengths are the Tnc Water capabilities and resources that it can leverage to build a sustainable
competitive advantage in the marketplace. Strengths come from positive aspects of five key
resources & capabilities - physical resources such as land, building, activities & processes, past
experiences and successes, human resources, and financial resources .

- Diverse Product Portfolio of Tnc Water – The products and brand portfolio of Tnc Water is
enabling it to target various segments in the domestic market at the same time. This has enabled
Tnc Water to build diverse revenue source and profit mix.

- Strong relationship with existing suppliers – As an incumbent in the industry, Tnc Water has
strong relationship with its suppliers and other members of the supply chain. According to Peter
Debaere, Brian Richter , the organization can increase products and services by leveraging the skills
of its suppliers and supply chain partners.

- Superior product and services quality can help Tnc Water to further increase its market share
as the current customer are extremely loyal to it. According to Peter Debaere, Brian Richter in The
Nature Conservancy: Advocating for and Investing in Sustainable Water Management study – there
are enough evidences that with such a high quality of products and services, Tnc Water can
compete with other global players in international market.

- Intellectual Property Rights – Tnc Water has garnered a wide array of patents and copyrights
through innovation and buying those rights from the creators. This can help Tnc Water in
thwarting the challenges of competitors in various industries .

- Strong Brand Equity and Brand Awareness – Tnc Water has some of the most recognized
brands in the domestic market it operates in. According to Peter Debaere, Brian Richter , brand
recognition plays a significant role in attracting new customers looking for solutions in adjacent
industries.

- Managing Regulations and Business Environment – Tnc Water operates in an environment

where it faces numerous regulations and government diktats. In areas, the firm needs to navigate
environment by building strong relationship with lobby groups and political network.

- Strong Balance Sheet and Financial Statement of Tnc Water can help it to invest in new and
diverse projects that can further diversify the revenue stream and increase Return on Sales (RoS) &
other metrics.

WEAKNESSES

Weaknesses are the areas, capabilities or skills in which Tnc Water lacks. It limits the ability of the
firm to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Weaknesses come from lack or absence of five
key resources & capabilities – physical resources such as land, building, activities & processes,
human resources, past experiences and successes, and financial resources .
Inventory Management – Based on the details provided in the The Nature Conservancy:
Advocating for and Investing in Sustainable Water Management case study, we can conclude that
Tnc Water is not efficiently managing the inventory and cash cycle. According to Peter Debaere,
Brian Richter , there is huge scope of improvement in inventory management.

Implementation of Technology in Processes – Even though Tnc Water has integrated

technology in the backend processes it has still not able to harness the power of technology in the
front end processes.

Track record on environment consideration is not very encouraging – Tnc Water track record
on environmental issues is not very encouraging. According to Peter Debaere, Brian Richter , this
can lead to consumer backlash as customers are now considering environmental protections as
integral to part of doing business.

Customer Dissatisfaction – Even though the demand for products have not gone down but there
is a simmering sense of dissatisfaction among the customers of Tnc Water . It is reflected on the
reviews on various on-line platforms. Tnc Water should focus on areas where it can improve the
customer purchase and post purchase experience.

Lack of critical talent – I believe that Tnc Water is suffering from lack of critical talent especially in
the field of technology & digital transformation. Tnc Water is struggling to restructure processes in
light of developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Project Management is too focused on internal delivery rather than considering all the interests
of external stakeholders. This approach can lead to poor public relation and customer backlash.

OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunities are macro environment factors and developments that Tnc Water can leverage
either to consolidate existing market position or use them for further expansion. Opportunities can
emerge from various factors such as – economic growth, technological innovations, political
developments & policy changes, changes in consumer preferences, and increase in consumer
disposable income .

Reducing Cost of Market Entry and Marketing into International Markets – According to Peter
Debaere, Brian Richter, globalization along with boom in digital marketing and social media has
considerably reduced the risks of market entry and marketing in international market.

Increasing Standardization – Tnc Water can leverage this trend to reduce the number of
offerings in the market and focus the marketing efforts on only the most successful products.

Access to International Talent in Global Market – One of the challenges Tnc Water facing right
now is limited access to high level talent market because of limited budget. Expansion into
international market can help Tnc Water to tap into international talent market. According to Peter
Debaere, Brian Richter , it can also help in bringing the talent into domestic market and expanding
into new areas .

Changing Technology Landscape – Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence boom is

transforming the technology landscape that Tnc Water operates in. According to Peter Debaere,
Brian Richter , Tnc Water can use these developments in improving efficiencies, lowering costs, and
transforming processes.

Opportunities in Adjacent Markets – Tnc Water can explore adjacent industries to further market
growth especially by extending the features of present products and services.

E-Commerce and Social Media Oriented Business Models – E-commerce business model can
help Tnc Water to tie up with local suppliers and logistics provider in international market. Social
media growth can help Tnc Water to reduce the cost of entering new market and reaching to
customers at a significantly lower marketing budget. It can also lead to crowd sourcing various
services and consumer oriented marketing based on the data and purchase behavior.

THREATS

Threats are macro environment factors and developments that can derail business model of Tnc
Water. Threats can emerge from various factors such as – technological innovations, increase in
consumer disposable income, changes in consumer preferences, political developments & policy
changes, and economic growth .

Government Regulations and Bureaucracy – Tnc Water should keep a close eye on the fast
changing government regulations under the growing pressure from protest groups and non
government organization especially regarding to environmental and labor safety aspects.
Threats of New Entrants because of Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiencies – As Tnc
Water can leverage low cost of reaching customers using social media and e-commerce, so can
the competitors – both local and international competitors.
Credit Binge post 2008 Recession – Easy access to credit can be over any time, so Tnc Water
should focus on reducing its dependence on debt to expand. The party has lasted for more than a
decade and rollback from Fed can result in huge interest costs for Tnc Wacycl
Growing Protectionism – Tnc Water should hedge the risk against growing protectionism ranging
from – storing data into international market to diversifying risk by operating into countries at
different economic cycle.
Squeezing Middle Class in Developed and Developing World – The growing inequality is one
of the biggest threat to not only globalization but also to capitalism. Tnc Water first hand witnessed
the impact of it where it has seen lower demand of its products from middle class customers in US
and EU market.
 HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Strengths
- Strengths are the Habitat Humanity capabilities and resources that it can leverage to build a
sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Strengths come from positive
aspects of five key resources & capabilities – human resources, financial resources, past
experiences and successes, physical resources such as land, building, and activities &
processes .

Weakness
- Weaknesses are the areas, capabilities or skills in which Habitat Humanity lacks. It limits
the ability of the firm to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Weaknesses come from
lack or absence of five key resources & capabilities – human resources, past experiences
and successes, financial resources, physical resources such as land, building, and activities
& processes .

Opportunities
- Opportunities are macro environment factors and developments that Habitat Humanity can
leverage either to consolidate existing market position or use them for further expansion.
Opportunities can emerge from various factors such as – political developments & policy
changes, technological innovations, increase in consumer disposable income, changes in
consumer preferences, and economic growth .

Threats
- Threats are macro environment factors and developments that can derail business model of
Habitat Humanity. Threats can emerge from various factors such as – economic growth,
political developments & policy changes, increase in consumer disposable income,
changes in consumer preferences, and technological innovations .