Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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
Describes the new policy of the National Archives of inviting corporate cosponsorship of historic exhibits and commemorations. In November 1989, Philip Morris Companies (PM) became the first cosponsor of the bicentennial commemoration of the Bill of Rights, and used the announcement of the cosponsorship as the foundation of a major corporate identity and image campaign in mass media. Also describes other current PM initiatives to sustain and improve its corporate image. Students are encouraged to think through the potential benefits and risks of PM's corporate campaigns, and then to examine the dimensions of this particular campaign.
Swot Analysis of "Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cosponsorship Pm facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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 casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program
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 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cosponsorship Pm, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cosponsorship 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 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cosponsorship 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 Cosponsorship Pm
Strengths Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cosponsorship Pm in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Cosponsorship 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cosponsorship 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cosponsorship Pm in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cosponsorship 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 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Cosponsorship Pm has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cosponsorship Pm to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Cosponsorship Pm 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 Cosponsorship Pm is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cosponsorship Pm to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cosponsorship Pm to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Cosponsorship Pm
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cosponsorship Pm does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cosponsorship Pm has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cosponsorship Pm is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cosponsorship Pm in the sector have low bargaining power. Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cosponsorship Pm to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program | 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 are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Cosponsorship Pm products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cosponsorship Pm needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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 Cosponsorship Pm 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, it seems that the employees of Cosponsorship 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cosponsorship Pm 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stephen A. Greyser, Norman Klein suggests that, Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cosponsorship Pm, firm in the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program, 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, Cosponsorship 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 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program HBR case study mentions - Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cosponsorship Pm 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 - Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cosponsorship 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 | 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 are -
Buying journey improvements
– Cosponsorship 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 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.
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. Cosponsorship Pm can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cosponsorship 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cosponsorship Pm 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. Cosponsorship 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. Cosponsorship 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cosponsorship 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cosponsorship Pm has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cosponsorship Pm to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program case study. Cosponsorship Pm can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cosponsorship Pm can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cosponsorship Pm operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cosponsorship 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cosponsorship 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cosponsorship 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 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cosponsorship Pm to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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 are -
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cosponsorship 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.
Environmental challenges
– Cosponsorship 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. Cosponsorship Pm can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cosponsorship Pm with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Cosponsorship 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 Cosponsorship Pm.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cosponsorship 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cosponsorship Pm high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Cosponsorship Pm in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Cosponsorship Pm 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cosponsorship Pm is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cosponsorship Pm can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Philip Morris Companies' "Bill of Rights" Sponsorship Program 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 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 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 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 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 Cosponsorship Pm needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
