PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency
This case presents the decisions facing the managing director/executive director of PacificLink iMedia (PacificLink), more than 10 years after he founded the company. The company had experienced periods of growth and decline since its founding and was facing a period of uncertain growth given the turmoil in world markets in 2009, following several years of strong growth and expansion. The director anticipated that the company could continue to grow into new geographic or product markets, or perhaps become fundamentally altered in its governance structure and financial resource base, through an initial public offering. The case involves analysis of these alternatives for growth. It can be used to teach about sources of competitive advantage and evaluations of growth alternatives.
Swot Analysis of "PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency" written by Andrew Delios includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pacificlink Imedia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pacificlink Imedia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pacificlink Imedia
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 Pacificlink Imedia
Strengths PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pacificlink Imedia in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pacificlink Imedia in the sector have low bargaining power. PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pacificlink Imedia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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.
Analytics focus
– Pacificlink Imedia 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 Andrew Delios 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Pacificlink Imedia 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 Pacificlink Imedia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pacificlink Imedia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pacificlink Imedia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Pacificlink Imedia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Pacificlink Imedia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pacificlink Imedia 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
– PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pacificlink Imedia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pacificlink Imedia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Pacificlink Imedia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pacificlink Imedia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency are -
Need for greater diversity
– Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pacificlink Imedia has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andrew Delios suggests that, Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pacificlink Imedia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Pacificlink Imedia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pacificlink Imedia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pacificlink Imedia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pacificlink Imedia products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pacificlink Imedia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency, it seems that the employees of Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pacificlink Imedia 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. Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Pacificlink Imedia, firm in the HBR case study PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency, in the dynamic environment Pacificlink Imedia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pacificlink Imedia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency | 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pacificlink Imedia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pacificlink Imedia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency case study. Pacificlink Imedia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pacificlink Imedia can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pacificlink Imedia to increase its market reach. Pacificlink Imedia 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.
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. Pacificlink Imedia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Pacificlink Imedia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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.
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. Pacificlink Imedia 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. Pacificlink Imedia 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
– Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pacificlink Imedia can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pacificlink Imedia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Pacificlink Imedia in the consumer business. Now Pacificlink Imedia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pacificlink Imedia 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, PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pacificlink Imedia 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 Pacificlink Imedia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pacificlink Imedia high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency .
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 Pacificlink Imedia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pacificlink Imedia 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pacificlink Imedia is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Pacificlink Imedia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pacificlink Imedia 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.
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 Pacificlink Imedia.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pacificlink Imedia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Pacificlink Imedia in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Pacificlink Imedia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pacificlink Imedia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pacificlink Imedia 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 PacificLink iMedia: Becoming a Full Service Interactive Agency 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 Pacificlink Imedia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
