Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)
Population Services International (PSI) was a not-for-profit agency founded to disseminate family planning information and to market birth control products, primarily in less developed countries seeking to curb their population explosions. In 1976, PSI concluded an agreement with the government of Bangladesh to conduct a social marketing program, with the objective of using modern marketing techniques to sell subsidized contraceptives through commercial outlets. Seven years later, three PSI managers were meeting at PSI's Washington, D.C. headquarters to discuss 1984-86 marketing strategy for two products: Raja condoms and Maya birth control pills. Of particular concern was the fact that the marketing approach that had proven extremely successful for Raja was yielding poor sales results for Maya. The PSI managers needed to devise an action plan for improving Maya sales.
Swot Analysis of "Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)" written by James E. Austin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Psi Maya facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Psi Maya, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Psi Maya
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 Psi Maya
Strengths Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Psi Maya in Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Psi Maya is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Psi Maya 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 James E. Austin 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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.
High brand equity
– Psi Maya has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Psi Maya to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Psi Maya are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Psi Maya has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Psi Maya 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Psi Maya digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Psi Maya 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Psi Maya is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Psi Maya to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Psi Maya to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Psi Maya 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.
Weaknesses Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Psi Maya 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Psi Maya has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James E. Austin suggests that, Psi Maya 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.
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 Psi Maya supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Psi Maya vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged), it seems that the employees of Psi Maya 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Psi Maya is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Psi Maya needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Psi Maya to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Psi Maya has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Psi Maya 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 - Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Psi Maya, firm in the HBR case study Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) | 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Psi Maya to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Psi Maya can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Psi Maya 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.
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 Psi Maya 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Psi Maya 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 Psi Maya to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Psi Maya 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Psi Maya 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Psi Maya is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Psi Maya can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Psi Maya can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Psi Maya 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Psi Maya 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Psi Maya to increase its market reach. Psi Maya 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.
Threats Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) are -
Regulatory challenges
– Psi Maya 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Psi Maya 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Psi Maya has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Psi Maya needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Psi Maya 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Psi Maya 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) .
Environmental challenges
– Psi Maya 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. Psi Maya can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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 Psi Maya in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Psi Maya with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Psi Maya can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Psi Maya business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Psi Maya.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged) 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 Psi Maya needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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