Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A)
This case study presents the dilemmas faced by the Country Manager of Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan. He has to find closure on a variety of issues ranging from procurement of steel casings to complete test wells in the Turkmen region, to implementing a new performance evaluation system mandated by Pioneer's headquarters in Dallas, localization of the workforce, and challenging cross-cultural matters associated with an upcoming trip by Turkmenistan officials to the US offices of Pioneer
Swot Analysis of "Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A)" written by Kannan Ramaswamy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Turkmenistan Pioneer facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sales and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Turkmenistan Pioneer, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Turkmenistan Pioneer
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 Turkmenistan Pioneer
Strengths Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Turkmenistan Pioneer in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Turkmenistan Pioneer in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Turkmenistan Pioneer in the sector have low bargaining power. Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Turkmenistan Pioneer to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Turkmenistan Pioneer is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Kannan Ramaswamy 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Turkmenistan Pioneer is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Turkmenistan Pioneer has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Turkmenistan Pioneer has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Turkmenistan Pioneer has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A), 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Turkmenistan Pioneer 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. Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A), is just above the industry average. Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Turkmenistan Pioneer supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Turkmenistan Pioneer vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Turkmenistan Pioneer products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Turkmenistan Pioneer needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Turkmenistan Pioneer is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Turkmenistan Pioneer, firm in the HBR case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) HBR case study mentions - Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Opportunities Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) | 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Turkmenistan Pioneer 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
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Turkmenistan Pioneer to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Turkmenistan Pioneer can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Turkmenistan Pioneer is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Turkmenistan Pioneer 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
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Turkmenistan Pioneer can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Turkmenistan Pioneer operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Turkmenistan Pioneer to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) case study. Turkmenistan Pioneer can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Turkmenistan Pioneer can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) are -
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.
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 Turkmenistan Pioneer.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Turkmenistan Pioneer has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
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.
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. Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A), Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 .
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 Turkmenistan Pioneer in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Turkmenistan Pioneer
– 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer.
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. Turkmenistan Pioneer can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Turkmenistan Pioneer 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Turkmenistan Pioneer 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Pioneer Energy in Turkmenistan: A country manager's view (A) 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 Turkmenistan Pioneer needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.