Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability
Pibrex is one of the world's largest developers of petrochemical-based polymers for the plastics market. This case illustrates what the management team has done to begin a turnaround of the firm and also highlights the many problems that remain. In particular, the company must reassess its management strategies and take steps to maintain its competitive position.
Swot Analysis of "Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability" written by Rachel Doern, Carl Fey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pibrex Polymers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pibrex Polymers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pibrex Polymers 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pibrex Polymers
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 Polymers
Strengths Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pibrex Polymers in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Pibrex Polymers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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.
Organizational Resilience of Pibrex Polymers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pibrex Polymers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pibrex Polymers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pibrex Polymers 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.
Learning organization
- Pibrex Polymers 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 Polymers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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
– Pibrex Polymers 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 Pibrex Polymers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Pibrex Polymers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pibrex Polymers in the sector have low bargaining power. Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pibrex Polymers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Pibrex Polymers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pibrex Polymers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Pibrex Polymers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pibrex Polymers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pibrex Polymers 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.
Weaknesses Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pibrex Polymers has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 Polymers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pibrex Polymers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Pibrex Polymers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pibrex Polymers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Pibrex Polymers 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability, is just above the industry average. Pibrex Polymers 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
– Pibrex Polymers 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 Pibrex Polymers, firm in the HBR case study Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pibrex Polymers is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pibrex Polymers 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pibrex Polymers has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability | 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pibrex Polymers to increase its market reach. Pibrex Polymers 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pibrex Polymers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pibrex Polymers 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.
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 Polymers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pibrex Polymers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Pibrex Polymers 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.
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. Pibrex Polymers 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. Pibrex Polymers 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pibrex Polymers 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 Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pibrex Polymers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pibrex Polymers 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 Polymers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pibrex Polymers to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pibrex Polymers 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 Pibrex Polymers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pibrex Polymers 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, Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pibrex Polymers 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability are -
Increasing wage structure of Pibrex Polymers
– 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 Polymers.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pibrex Polymers is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Pibrex Polymers 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.
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 Polymers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Pibrex Polymers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pibrex Polymers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pibrex Polymers 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pibrex Polymers 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability, Pibrex Polymers 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 .
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.
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.
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 Polymers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pibrex Polymers 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 Polymers 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Pibrex Russia (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 (B): Developing Organizational Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Profitability 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 Polymers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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