Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances
Pibrex is one of the world's largest developers of petrochemical-based polymers for the plastics market. The company has purchased a plant in Russia and after three years of serious operating losses has appointed a new general manager of the plant. The plant lacks a strong organizational culture; communications within and between departments are poor; inequity in wages, working conditions, and training exist but motivation and retention problems are prevalent; Pibrex headquarters is losing interest in the Russian operation; and two subcultures exist within the Pibrex Russia organization. The general manager must develop an action plan that can turn operations around with minimal expense to Pibrex.
Swot Analysis of "Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances" written by Rachel Doern, Carl Fey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pibrex Russia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Corporate governance and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pibrex Russia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pibrex Russia 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pibrex Russia
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 Pibrex Russia
Strengths Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pibrex Russia in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pibrex Russia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pibrex Russia 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pibrex Russia 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.
Organizational Resilience of Pibrex Russia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pibrex Russia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Pibrex Russia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pibrex Russia 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Pibrex Russia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pibrex Russia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Pibrex Russia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pibrex Russia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Pibrex Russia 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 Rachel Doern, Carl Fey 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pibrex Russia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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.
Learning organization
- Pibrex Russia 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 Pibrex Russia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Pibrex Russia 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Pibrex Russia 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Pibrex Russia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pibrex Russia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances, in the dynamic environment Pibrex Russia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pibrex Russia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Pibrex Russia, firm in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances, it seems that the employees of Pibrex Russia 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pibrex Russia 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rachel Doern, Carl Fey suggests that, Pibrex Russia 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Pibrex Russia 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.
Opportunities Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances | 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pibrex Russia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Pibrex Russia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Pibrex Russia 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pibrex Russia 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.
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 Pibrex Russia in the consumer business. Now Pibrex Russia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pibrex Russia 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.
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 Pibrex Russia 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pibrex Russia to increase its market reach. Pibrex Russia 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pibrex Russia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pibrex Russia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Pibrex Russia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pibrex Russia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pibrex Russia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pibrex Russia 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.
Threats Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pibrex Russia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pibrex Russia 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.
Increasing wage structure of Pibrex Russia
– 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 Pibrex Russia.
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. Pibrex Russia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pibrex Russia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pibrex Russia 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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Pibrex Russia 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.
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 Pibrex Russia.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pibrex Russia 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pibrex Russia 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.
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. Pibrex Russia 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.
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 Pibrex Russia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (A): New Crisis, Old Grievances 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 Pibrex Russia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.