Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney
Officials at United Technologies Corp. (UTC) must decide on an ethics policy to govern competitive intelligence gathering. The flow of competitor information into the Pratt & Whitney division has declined sharply since adoption of UTC's code of ethics. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Swot Analysis of "Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney" written by Lynn Sharp Paine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pratt Whitney facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Ethics, International business, IT, Negotiations, Regulation and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pratt Whitney, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pratt Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pratt Whitney
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 Pratt Whitney
Strengths Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pratt Whitney in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Pratt Whitney is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pratt Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Pratt Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Pratt Whitney 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 Lynn Sharp Paine 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pratt Whitney in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Pratt Whitney has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pratt Whitney to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Pratt Whitney
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pratt Whitney does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pratt Whitney 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pratt Whitney in the sector have low bargaining power. Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pratt Whitney to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Pratt Whitney is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Pratt Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pratt Whitney 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.
Weaknesses Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pratt Whitney 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. Pratt Whitney 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pratt Whitney is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Pratt Whitney needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pratt Whitney to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney, it seems that the employees of Pratt Whitney 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pratt Whitney products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pratt Whitney needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pratt Whitney is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pratt Whitney is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pratt Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pratt Whitney 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pratt Whitney has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney | 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pratt Whitney 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pratt Whitney 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pratt Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pratt Whitney to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pratt Whitney 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, Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pratt Whitney is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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.
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. Pratt Whitney can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pratt Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pratt Whitney can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pratt Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney 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.
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 Pratt Whitney 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pratt Whitney has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pratt Whitney to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney case study. Pratt Whitney can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Pratt Whitney can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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. Pratt Whitney can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pratt Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney .
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. Pratt Whitney 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pratt Whitney is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Pratt Whitney 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. Pratt Whitney can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Pratt Whitney business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Pratt Whitney needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Pratt Whitney can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
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 Pratt Whitney in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney, Pratt Whitney 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 .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pratt Whitney with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Pratt Whitney
– 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 Pratt Whitney.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney 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 Pratt Whitney needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.