Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene
Garnier which was launched in the United States in 2003 acquired a market share of 5.1% within a year. Pantene, which was the market leader in the United States in the shampoo category, saw its market share decline from 22% to 20.5% during the same period. The steep decline in the market share worried Procter & Gamble, the owner of the Pantene brand. It wondered whether the decline was because of lack of distribution, or higher pricing or unfavorable consumer perception. It hired leading market research agency - Nielsen to identify the cause of decline in market share and to suggest marketing strategy. This case elaborates on the research findings of Nielsen. It also traces the evolution of market research industry and in particular Nielsen. It describes the various research offerings of Nielsen.
Swot Analysis of "Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene" written by Seema Gupta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nielsen Pantene facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nielsen Pantene, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nielsen Pantene
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 Nielsen Pantene
Strengths Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nielsen Pantene in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Nielsen Pantene has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nielsen Pantene in the sector have low bargaining power. Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nielsen Pantene to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Nielsen Pantene is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nielsen Pantene is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Nielsen Pantene is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nielsen Pantene is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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.
Analytics focus
– Nielsen Pantene 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 Seema Gupta 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen Pantene in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen Pantene is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Nielsen Pantene has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nielsen Pantene to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene HBR case study mentions - Nielsen Pantene 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nielsen Pantene 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, it seems that the employees of Nielsen Pantene 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen Pantene 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nielsen Pantene products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nielsen Pantene needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Nielsen Pantene supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nielsen Pantene vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, is just above the industry average. Nielsen Pantene 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nielsen Pantene, firm in the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nielsen Pantene is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Nielsen Pantene 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.
Opportunities Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene | 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nielsen Pantene 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, Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Nielsen Pantene 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nielsen Pantene 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. Nielsen Pantene can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nielsen Pantene has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nielsen Pantene to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene case study. Nielsen Pantene can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nielsen Pantene 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nielsen Pantene 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen Pantene to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nielsen Pantene can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Nielsen Pantene 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. Nielsen Pantene 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Nielsen Pantene 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nielsen Pantene 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, Nielsen Pantene can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nielsen Pantene operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nielsen Pantene 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.
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 Nielsen Pantene business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nielsen Pantene 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nielsen Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene .
Increasing wage structure of Nielsen Pantene
– 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 Nielsen Pantene.
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. Nielsen Pantene 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nielsen Pantene 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.
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 Nielsen Pantene in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Nielsen Pantene can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene, Nielsen Pantene 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 .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nielsen Pantene in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene 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 Nielsen Pantene needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
