PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets
PSS World Medical has grown rapidly since its founding in 1983, largely by acquisitions. It has recently had some trouble digesting a large acquisition, and its stock price is quite depressed. The CEO and his senior management team confront the question of whether the strong culture organization they have built, and the practices they are using to manage the company, will stand it in good stead at its larger size and facing the current challenges. Also, the senior management team is wondering why Wall Street doesn't fully appreciate what the company has accomplished and its management strengths.
Swot Analysis of "PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets" written by Charles A. O'Reilly, Jeffrey Pfeffer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pss Digesting facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Organizational culture, Personnel policies, Supply chain and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pss Digesting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pss Digesting 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pss Digesting
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pss Digesting
Strengths PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pss Digesting in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pss Digesting 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Pss Digesting 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 Pss Digesting in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Pss Digesting has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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.
Analytics focus
– Pss Digesting is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Charles A. O'Reilly, Jeffrey Pfeffer can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Innovation driven organization
– Pss Digesting is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pss Digesting has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pss Digesting 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pss Digesting is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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.
Learning organization
- Pss Digesting 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 Pss Digesting is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Pss Digesting has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pss Digesting to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pss Digesting to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pss Digesting to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pss Digesting in the sector have low bargaining power. PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pss Digesting to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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.
Weaknesses PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pss Digesting is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 Pss Digesting, firm in the HBR case study PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Pss Digesting 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pss Digesting is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Pss Digesting 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets HBR case study mentions - Pss Digesting takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pss Digesting has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Charles A. O'Reilly, Jeffrey Pfeffer suggests that, Pss Digesting 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pss Digesting has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Pss Digesting even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pss Digesting products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pss Digesting needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pss Digesting 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 - PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets | 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pss Digesting to increase its market reach. Pss Digesting 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pss Digesting 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pss Digesting to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pss Digesting can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pss Digesting operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Pss Digesting 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pss Digesting 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pss Digesting 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. Pss Digesting 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pss Digesting can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
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. Pss Digesting can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Pss Digesting 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Pss Digesting can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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 Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pss Digesting can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pss Digesting is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pss Digesting in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pss Digesting in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Pss Digesting 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
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 Pss Digesting.
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 Pss Digesting business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pss Digesting is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pss Digesting 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets .
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. Pss Digesting needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Pss Digesting in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Pss Digesting 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 Pss Digesting with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pss Digesting has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pss Digesting needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 PSS World Medical: The Challenges of Growth and the Financial Markets 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 Pss Digesting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.