Question

McDonald (1993) contends that if there is only one word to describe the business environment, it is “change”. In this line, organizations are continuously under great pressure to develop and implement business-oriented methods and measures to improve the overall effectiveness of business organization in order to achieve a competitive advantage (Al Faha, Al Mahmud, Miah & Islam, 2015). The preamble above highlights the need for an organization to continually appraise and reappraise its business environment. Required: Identify a company in Ghana of your interest, and conduct a SWOT analysis on the company's business environment, to reflect how the organization can strategize to achieve a competitive advantage

Answer 1

Olam International in Ghana engages in the food processing industry supplying various products such as staple and packaged food, industrial raw materials, spices and beans, confectionery and beverages, edible nuts, and others.

Strengths- It is one of the leading global integrated supply chain companies with its presence across 65 countries. Olam consists of superior origination and high quality risk management and trading skills. It has managed to build its significant presence in the packaged food industry of the West African markets.

Weaknesses- The company has been suffering from decreasing agricultural productivity, declining arable land, water and carbon constraints and difficulties in logistics and storage. Natural calamities like droughts and floods often result in its supply chain disruptions causing increase in commodity prices.

Opportunities - Increase in urbanization has led to the increase in per capita income and consumption of the African countries with growing population and consumption of food. Besides, customers are now interested towards dietary products.

Threats- Rigidity in credit markets and reduction is liquidity provides a threat to the company. Besides, fluctuations in taxes and tariffs, export bans and distortions in margin affect the free trade flow. In addition, rising concerns towards environmental issues, climate change and increasing global competition also creates difficulties.

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