PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons
Accompanied by product #PON385.Two-party, single-issue negotiation between two neighbors regarding the potential sale of a vacant lot. The Parkers and the Gibsons own homes on adjacent plots of land. The homes are separated by a 1/2 lot the Parkers purchased years ago in hopes of building a tennis court, which they never got around to. The Parkers are now moving out of state and are interested in selling the half lot, as the buyer of their home is not interested in it. The Parkers have approached the Gibsons (who have interest in the lot for home improvements they have planned) about purchasing the lot. Neither party knows much about the other's interests. The Parkers and Gibsons are meeting to explore whether a mutually beneficial transaction is possible. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons" written by Program on Negotiation includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Parkers Gibsons facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Parkers Gibsons, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Parkers Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Parkers Gibsons
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Parkers Gibsons
Strengths PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Parkers Gibsons in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Parkers Gibsons 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.
Learning organization
- Parkers Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Parkers Gibsons digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Parkers Gibsons 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Parkers Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Parkers Gibsons has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Parkers Gibsons is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Parkers Gibsons is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Parkers Gibsons to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Parkers Gibsons to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Parkers Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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.
Analytics focus
– Parkers Gibsons 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 Program on Negotiation 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Parkers Gibsons in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Parkers Gibsons 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 - PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons HBR case study mentions - Parkers Gibsons 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Parkers Gibsons products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Parkers Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Program on Negotiation suggests that, Parkers Gibsons is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Parkers Gibsons has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Parkers Gibsons needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Parkers Gibsons, firm in the HBR case study PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons, is just above the industry average. Parkers Gibsons 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Parkers Gibsons 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. Parkers Gibsons 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.
Opportunities PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons | 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Parkers Gibsons 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Parkers Gibsons 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Parkers Gibsons to increase its market reach. Parkers Gibsons will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Parkers Gibsons can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Parkers Gibsons is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Parkers Gibsons can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Parkers Gibsons can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Parkers Gibsons has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Parkers Gibsons to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons case study. Parkers Gibsons can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Parkers Gibsons in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Parkers Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Parkers Gibsons 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Parkers Gibsons 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Parkers Gibsons 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, PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons are -
Regulatory challenges
– Parkers Gibsons 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Parkers Gibsons demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Parkers Gibsons has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Parkers Gibsons needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Parkers Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Parkers Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Parkers Gibsons with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Parkers Gibsons business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Parkers Gibsons needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Parkers Gibsons 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. Parkers Gibsons can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Parkers Gibsons 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons, Parkers Gibsons may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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 Parkers Gibsons.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 PARKER - GIBSON - Confidential Instructions for the Gibsons 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 Parkers Gibsons needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.