Swot Analysis of "Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B)" written by Michael A. Wheeler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Poulenc Rhone facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Poulenc Rhone, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Poulenc Rhone 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Poulenc Rhone
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 Poulenc Rhone
Strengths Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Poulenc Rhone in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Poulenc Rhone is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Poulenc Rhone to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Poulenc Rhone to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Poulenc Rhone 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 Poulenc Rhone is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Poulenc Rhone 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 Poulenc Rhone in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Poulenc Rhone
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Poulenc Rhone does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Poulenc Rhone digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Poulenc Rhone 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.
High brand equity
– Poulenc Rhone has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Poulenc Rhone to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Poulenc Rhone 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Poulenc Rhone in the sector have low bargaining power. Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Poulenc Rhone to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Poulenc Rhone is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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.
Training and development
– Poulenc Rhone has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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.
Weaknesses Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael A. Wheeler suggests that, Poulenc Rhone 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Poulenc Rhone has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) HBR case study mentions - Poulenc Rhone 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 Poulenc Rhone products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Poulenc Rhone needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Poulenc Rhone 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B), is just above the industry average. Poulenc Rhone 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, Poulenc Rhone 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. Poulenc Rhone 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Poulenc Rhone is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Poulenc Rhone needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Poulenc Rhone to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Poulenc Rhone has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Poulenc Rhone 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.
Opportunities Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) | 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) are -
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 Poulenc Rhone 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Poulenc Rhone 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Poulenc Rhone 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 Poulenc Rhone to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Poulenc Rhone can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Poulenc Rhone 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. Poulenc Rhone 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
– Poulenc Rhone 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Poulenc Rhone can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Poulenc Rhone operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Poulenc Rhone 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Poulenc Rhone 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Poulenc Rhone can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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 Poulenc Rhone 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Poulenc Rhone can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Poulenc Rhone can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Poulenc Rhone is facing in Strategy & Execution 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 Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Poulenc Rhone can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Poulenc Rhone has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Poulenc Rhone 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.
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 Poulenc Rhone in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Poulenc Rhone 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.
Environmental challenges
– Poulenc Rhone 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. Poulenc Rhone can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution 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. Poulenc Rhone needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Poulenc Rhone 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Poulenc Rhone high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B), Poulenc Rhone 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 .
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 Poulenc Rhone business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Poulenc Rhone 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Poulenc Rhone in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B) 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 Poulenc Rhone needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
