Swot Analysis of "Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2)" 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 (A2) 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 (A2) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2)
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 (A2) 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 (A2) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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 (A2) | 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 (A2) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Poulenc Rhone 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Poulenc Rhone is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Poulenc Rhone 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.
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.
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 (A2) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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 (A2) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Poulenc Rhone in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Poulenc Rhone is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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
– 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.
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 (A2) 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 (A2) | 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 (A2) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Poulenc Rhone is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Poulenc Rhone, firm in the HBR case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2), it seems that the employees of Poulenc Rhone 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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Poulenc Rhone is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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 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.
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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Poulenc Rhone has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2), in the dynamic environment Poulenc Rhone has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Poulenc Rhone has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) | 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 (A2) are -
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.
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Poulenc Rhone in the consumer business. Now Poulenc Rhone can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Poulenc Rhone 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 Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Poulenc Rhone to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Poulenc Rhone is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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.
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.
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 (A2) 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. Poulenc Rhone can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Poulenc Rhone 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.
Threats Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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 (A2) are -
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Poulenc Rhone 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.
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.
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 Poulenc Rhone.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Poulenc Rhone
– 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 Poulenc Rhone.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A2) 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 (A2) 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 (A2) 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 (A2) 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 (A2) 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.