Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India
Prince Pipes and Fittings (Prince) - a family managed enterprise in the Indian PVC pipe industry - had not only navigated the 2008 Global financial crisis, a period when more than 1000 Indian pipe companies had shut down within 90 days, it had in fact used the crisis as an opportunity to successfully transition from an small and medium enterprise (SME) to a large enterprise through acquisitions. In 2013, the company faced a bleak macroeconomic environment of declining GDP growth rates, tight monetary conditions, a pessimistic industrial outlook, a depreciating rupee and rising crude prices. It also faced growing domestic competition. Would Prince be able to reach its goals for 2013/14? Tulsi Jayakumar is affiliated with SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.
Swot Analysis of "Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India" written by Tulsi Jayakumar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Prince Fittings facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Recession and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Prince Fittings, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Prince Fittings 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Prince Fittings
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 Prince Fittings
Strengths Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Prince Fittings in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Prince Fittings is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Prince Fittings 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 Prince Fittings in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Prince Fittings is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Prince Fittings 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Prince Fittings 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Prince Fittings 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
- Prince Fittings 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 Prince Fittings is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Prince Fittings 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 Tulsi Jayakumar 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Prince Fittings digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Prince Fittings 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Prince Fittings in the sector have low bargaining power. Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Prince Fittings to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Prince Fittings has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Prince Fittings to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Prince Fittings to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India, is just above the industry average. Prince Fittings 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Prince Fittings 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Fittings has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India, it seems that the employees of Prince Fittings 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Prince Fittings is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Prince Fittings is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Prince Fittings products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Prince Fittings 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 Prince Fittings 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India HBR case study mentions - Prince Fittings 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Tulsi Jayakumar suggests that, Prince Fittings 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.
Opportunities Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India | 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Prince Fittings can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Prince Fittings can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Prince Fittings can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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. Prince Fittings can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Prince Fittings 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Prince Fittings 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, Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Prince Fittings 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 Prince Fittings to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Prince Fittings to increase its market reach. Prince Fittings 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.
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. Prince Fittings 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. Prince Fittings 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Prince Fittings 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Prince Fittings 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Prince Fittings to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Prince Fittings can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Prince Fittings operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Prince Fittings 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.
Threats Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India are -
Regulatory challenges
– Prince Fittings 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Prince Fittings 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Prince Fittings is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Prince Fittings has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Prince Fittings 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 Prince Fittings in the Strategy & Execution 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. Prince Fittings 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.
Environmental challenges
– Prince Fittings 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. Prince Fittings can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Prince Fittings 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Prince Fittings 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India .
Increasing wage structure of Prince Fittings
– 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 Prince Fittings.
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 Prince Fittings.
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. Prince Fittings can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Pipes and Fittings Pvt. Ltd., India 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 Prince Fittings needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.