Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs
Emphasizes the skills and values that we believe successful professionals possess: change management and leadership skills, a proactive career management approach, effective processes of giving and receiving feedback, a clear ethical perspective, balance between private and professional lives, and the ability to cope with ever increasing demands on one's time.
Authors :: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Scot Landry
Swot Analysis of "Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs" written by Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Scot Landry includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Psfs Skills facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Psfs Skills, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Psfs Skills 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Psfs Skills
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Psfs Skills
Strengths Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Psfs Skills in Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Psfs Skills 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Psfs Skills digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Psfs Skills 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Psfs Skills is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Psfs Skills is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Psfs Skills to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Psfs Skills to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Psfs Skills
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Psfs Skills does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Psfs Skills 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 Psfs Skills in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Psfs Skills has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Psfs Skills to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Psfs Skills in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Psfs Skills has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Psfs Skills 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Psfs Skills is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Psfs Skills 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Psfs Skills 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. Psfs Skills 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Psfs Skills is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Psfs Skills 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Psfs Skills 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Psfs Skills has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Psfs Skills 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 - Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs, is just above the industry average. Psfs Skills 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Psfs Skills 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs, it seems that the employees of Psfs Skills 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Psfs Skills, firm in the HBR case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Scot Landry suggests that, Psfs Skills 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.
Opportunities Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs | 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Psfs Skills 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 Technology & Operations segment.
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 Psfs Skills 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 Psfs Skills has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Psfs Skills to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs case study. Psfs Skills can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Psfs Skills can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Psfs Skills 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Psfs Skills can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Psfs Skills 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Psfs Skills can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Psfs Skills 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Psfs Skills to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Psfs Skills 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 Psfs Skills 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, Psfs Skills 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, Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Psfs Skills can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Psfs Skills can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Psfs Skills operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Threats Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Psfs Skills 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Psfs Skills 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Psfs Skills with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs, Psfs Skills may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Environmental challenges
– Psfs Skills 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. Psfs Skills can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Psfs Skills can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Psfs Skills is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Psfs Skills needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Psfs Skills
– 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 Psfs Skills.
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. Psfs Skills 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Psfs Skills has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Psfs Skills needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Psfs Skills high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Professional Services, Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs 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 Psfs Skills needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.