Case Study Description of Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity
Ryan Snow and his business partner, Peter Pearson, faced challenges related to hyper-growth and maintaining customer satisfaction with regard to building Pacific Cares, a telephone technical support outsourcing company for laboratory and testing equipment. The two executives purchased the company in early 2003. Peter became CEO and Snow took on the role of President and Chairman. After running the company successfully for over two years, they continued to be optimistic about Pacific Cares' growth trajectory. Since they took over, the organization had grown from 30 to 250 employees and revenue had doubled annually during the same time period. While confident of Pacific Cares' prospects, Peter and Ryan also pushed on the question of how much growth the company could productively absorb without sacrificing both quality and customer satisfaction. In their last meeting, the Board requested that the executives develop a 2-year outlook for the business based upon Ryan and Peter's assessment of how fast the company should accelerate. The Directors were primarily focused on whether to continue with the current "steady" growth, which was still considerable, but in line with the historic ramp, or to invest in a more "robust" strategy. The two executives wanted to build a large business as fast as possible and own the market before their competitors did. However, they were also sensitive to the impact on margins and the operational challenges of a stepped up expansion
Swot Analysis of "Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity" written by Bethany Coates, Jim Ellis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cares Ryan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cares Ryan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cares Ryan 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cares Ryan
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 Cares Ryan
Strengths Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cares Ryan in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Cares Ryan 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 Cares Ryan in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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
– Cares Ryan 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 Bethany Coates, Jim Ellis 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cares Ryan is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Cares Ryan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Cares Ryan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cares Ryan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cares Ryan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cares Ryan 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cares Ryan in the sector have low bargaining power. Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cares Ryan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cares Ryan 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Cares Ryan
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cares Ryan does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cares Ryan is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Cares Ryan is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cares Ryan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Cares Ryan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cares Ryan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Cares Ryan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cares Ryan 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cares Ryan products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cares Ryan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity, in the dynamic environment Cares Ryan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cares Ryan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cares Ryan, firm in the HBR case study Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Bethany Coates, Jim Ellis suggests that, Cares Ryan 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity, is just above the industry average. Cares Ryan needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity HBR case study mentions - Cares Ryan 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cares Ryan 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. Cares Ryan 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cares Ryan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity | 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cares Ryan 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cares Ryan 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.
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 Cares Ryan in the consumer business. Now Cares Ryan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cares Ryan to increase its market reach. Cares Ryan 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.
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 Cares Ryan 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.
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. Cares Ryan 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. Cares Ryan 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.
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. Cares Ryan can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cares Ryan 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cares Ryan 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cares Ryan 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cares Ryan 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cares Ryan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cares Ryan has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cares Ryan to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity case study. Cares Ryan can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cares Ryan 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.
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. Cares Ryan 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 Cares Ryan in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Cares Ryan 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.
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. Cares Ryan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Cares Ryan 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. Cares Ryan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Cares Ryan can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cares Ryan 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.
Increasing wage structure of Cares Ryan
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cares Ryan.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cares Ryan 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cares Ryan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cares Ryan 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cares Ryan 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Pacific Cares: Seizing a Market Opportunity 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 Cares Ryan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.