Case Study Description of Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C)
Focuses on the development of a "market driven" culture at Hewlett-Packard (HP); the conflict between autonomous, well integrated divisions making products responsive to their own markets and a greater degree of systems integration at the corporate level; and the integration of the sales, marketing, and research and development functions.
Swot Analysis of "Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C)" written by Benson P. Shapiro, Lawrence B. Levine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Packard Hewlett facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Packard Hewlett, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Packard Hewlett
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 Packard Hewlett
Strengths Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Packard Hewlett in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Packard Hewlett 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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.
Learning organization
- Packard Hewlett 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 Packard Hewlett is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Packard Hewlett is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Packard Hewlett 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 Packard Hewlett in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Packard Hewlett is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Packard Hewlett 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Packard Hewlett in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Packard Hewlett digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Packard Hewlett 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.
Organizational Resilience of Packard Hewlett
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Packard Hewlett does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), is just above the industry average. Packard Hewlett 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Packard Hewlett products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Packard Hewlett needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), it seems that the employees of Packard Hewlett 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Packard Hewlett 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 - Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Packard Hewlett supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Packard Hewlett vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), in the dynamic environment Packard Hewlett has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Packard Hewlett has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Packard Hewlett 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. Packard Hewlett 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Packard Hewlett 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Packard Hewlett is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Packard Hewlett 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.
Opportunities Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) | 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Packard Hewlett 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 Packard Hewlett to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Packard Hewlett 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Packard Hewlett 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Packard Hewlett can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Packard Hewlett operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Packard Hewlett can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Packard Hewlett 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 Packard Hewlett has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Packard Hewlett to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) case study. Packard Hewlett can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Packard Hewlett to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Packard Hewlett can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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.
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 Packard Hewlett 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Packard Hewlett 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Packard Hewlett 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.
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. Packard Hewlett 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. Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) are -
Increasing wage structure of Packard Hewlett
– 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 Packard Hewlett.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Packard Hewlett is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Packard Hewlett 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) .
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. Packard Hewlett can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Packard Hewlett 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.
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.
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. Packard Hewlett 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 Packard Hewlett.
Regulatory challenges
– Packard Hewlett 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.
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 Packard Hewlett business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Packard Hewlett 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C), Packard Hewlett 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Packard Hewlett 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C) 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 Packard Hewlett needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.