Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher
Parul Prakashani started out as a textbook publisher in 1961. Slowly, it diversified into a wide repertoire of non-textbooks for children, young adults and adults. In early 2013, the non-textbook division of the company is not earning enough revenue, while strong revenues are coming from textbooks. The major issue faced by Parul is how to grow the non-textbook business. This requires significant branding activity and a marketing communication plan. Phasing out the non-textbook business is not an option, since it is close to the founder's heart and lends prestige to the company. The major dilemma facing the founder is whether to allocate more resources to the non-textbook division to improve growth, and if so, how to allocate these resources. Parul must think up new products and new markets in order to stay in the business of publishing non-textbooks.
Swot Analysis of "Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher" written by Subhadip Roy, Soumya Sarkar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Textbook Parul facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Textbook Parul, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Textbook Parul 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Textbook Parul
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Textbook Parul
Strengths Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Textbook Parul in Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Textbook Parul has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Textbook Parul has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Textbook Parul 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.
High brand equity
– Textbook Parul has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Textbook Parul to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Textbook Parul in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Textbook Parul is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Textbook Parul is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Textbook Parul 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Textbook Parul to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Textbook Parul to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Textbook Parul digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Textbook Parul has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Textbook Parul 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Textbook Parul products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Textbook Parul needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher, it seems that the employees of Textbook Parul 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Textbook Parul has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Textbook Parul is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Textbook Parul needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Textbook Parul to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Textbook Parul 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Textbook Parul 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. Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul, firm in the HBR case study Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Textbook Parul supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Textbook Parul vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher | 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher are -
Manufacturing automation
– Textbook Parul can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Textbook Parul can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Textbook Parul 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Textbook Parul 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, Textbook Parul can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Textbook Parul operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Textbook Parul 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Textbook Parul 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.
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 Textbook Parul 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Textbook Parul in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Textbook Parul to increase its market reach. Textbook Parul 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Textbook Parul can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Textbook Parul in the consumer business. Now Textbook Parul can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Textbook Parul 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. Textbook Parul 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.
Threats Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Textbook Parul is facing in Sales & Marketing 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 Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Textbook Parul 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 Textbook Parul with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher, Textbook Parul may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Environmental challenges
– Textbook Parul 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. Textbook Parul can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Textbook Parul 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.
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 Textbook Parul in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Textbook Parul 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Textbook Parul 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.
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. Textbook Parul needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Textbook Parul.
Increasing wage structure of Textbook Parul
– 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 Textbook Parul.
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 Textbook Parul business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Parul's Profit Predicament: Growth and Branding Challenges of a Publisher 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 Textbook Parul needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
