Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department
A new director of flight operations for a global firm growing by acquisition must manage a series of issues concerning service, pay scales, training, and new information technology. All emerge in this true case built from a composite of several actual situations. Names have been disguised.
Swot Analysis of "Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department" written by Greg Bevan, James G. Clawson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Flight Paragon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Flight Paragon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Flight Paragon 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Flight Paragon
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 Flight Paragon
Strengths Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Flight Paragon in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Flight Paragon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Flight Paragon is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Flight Paragon 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 Flight Paragon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Flight Paragon is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Flight Paragon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Flight Paragon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Flight Paragon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Flight Paragon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Flight Paragon 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.
Analytics focus
– Flight Paragon 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 Greg Bevan, James G. Clawson 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Flight Paragon 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 Flight Paragon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Flight Paragon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Flight Paragon 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
– Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Flight Paragon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Flight Paragon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Flight Paragon in the sector have low bargaining power. Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Flight Paragon to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Flight Paragon, firm in the HBR case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department, it seems that the employees of Flight Paragon 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Flight Paragon 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Flight Paragon has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department HBR case study mentions - Flight Paragon 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Flight Paragon 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Flight Paragon is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Flight Paragon has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Flight Paragon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Flight Paragon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Flight Paragon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Flight Paragon 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 - Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department, in the dynamic environment Flight Paragon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Flight Paragon has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department | 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department are -
Loyalty marketing
– Flight Paragon 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.
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. Flight Paragon 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. Flight Paragon 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Flight Paragon 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.
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 Flight Paragon in the consumer business. Now Flight Paragon can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Flight Paragon can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Flight Paragon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Flight Paragon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department case study. Flight Paragon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Flight Paragon 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 Flight Paragon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Flight Paragon 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.
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. Flight Paragon can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Flight Paragon 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Flight Paragon 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, Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Flight Paragon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Flight Paragon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Flight Paragon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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.
Threats Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Flight Paragon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Flight Paragon 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 wage structure of Flight Paragon
– 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 Flight Paragon.
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 Flight Paragon.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Flight Paragon 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department .
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department, Flight Paragon may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Flight Paragon is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Flight Paragon 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. Flight Paragon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Flight Paragon 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. Flight Paragon can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Flight Paragon 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.
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. Flight Paragon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Flight Paragon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Paragon Corporation and Its Flight Department 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 Flight Paragon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
