Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses
Describes the reactions of public interest groups, members of the House of Representatives, and others. Further documents reactions to the choice of Philip Morris (PM) as a sponsor. Invites students to weigh the corporate pluses and minuses for PM, given these reactions.
Swot Analysis of "Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reactions Pm facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reactions Pm, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reactions Pm
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 Reactions Pm
Strengths Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reactions Pm in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Reactions Pm is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Reactions Pm 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 Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Reactions Pm is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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
– Reactions Pm 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 Reactions Pm in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Reactions Pm is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Reactions Pm in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Reactions Pm 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Reactions Pm is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Reactions Pm digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Reactions Pm 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Reactions Pm to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Reactions Pm to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Reactions Pm is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Reactions Pm needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Reactions Pm to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Reactions Pm 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses, it seems that the employees of Reactions Pm 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Reactions Pm 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Reactions Pm is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Reactions Pm products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Reactions Pm needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Reactions Pm 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses, is just above the industry average. Reactions Pm 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Reactions Pm 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses | 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Reactions Pm to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Reactions Pm can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Reactions Pm in the consumer business. Now Reactions Pm can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Reactions Pm can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Reactions Pm can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Reactions Pm 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, Reactions Pm 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Reactions Pm 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, Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reactions Pm 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Reactions Pm 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Reactions Pm 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.
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. Reactions Pm 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. Reactions Pm 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reactions Pm has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reactions Pm to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses case study. Reactions Pm can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Reactions Pm 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.
Threats Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses are -
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. Reactions Pm can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Reactions Pm in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Reactions Pm business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Reactions Pm 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Reactions Pm with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Reactions Pm 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. Reactions Pm can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Reactions Pm needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reactions Pm has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reactions Pm 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Reactions Pm 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses .
Increasing wage structure of Reactions Pm
– 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 Reactions Pm.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses, Reactions Pm 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, Responses 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 Reactions Pm needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
