The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career
Presents two situations: 1) two graduating MBAs from Harvard Business School compare and contrast their strategies for getting off to a good start in consulting, and 2) a junior consultant has to deal with of difficult feedback in his very first performance review.
Authors :: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong, Scot Landry
Swot Analysis of "The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career" written by Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong, Scot Landry includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Psf Mbas facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Strategy and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Psf Mbas, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Psf Mbas 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Psf Mbas
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 Psf Mbas
Strengths The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Psf Mbas in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Psf Mbas 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 Psf Mbas is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Psf Mbas
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Psf Mbas does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Psf Mbas 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Psf Mbas has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Psf Mbas 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
– Psf Mbas is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Psf Mbas to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Psf Mbas to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Psf Mbas 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Psf Mbas 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.
Training and development
– Psf Mbas has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Psf Mbas 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career - 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
– Psf Mbas is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 Psf Mbas in the sector have low bargaining power. The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Psf Mbas to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 Psf Mbas 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Psf Mbas 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. Psf Mbas 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Psf Mbas, firm in the HBR case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 Psf Mbas has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career, is just above the industry average. Psf Mbas 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Psf Mbas supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Psf Mbas vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career, in the dynamic environment Psf Mbas has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Psf Mbas has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Psf Mbas is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Psf Mbas needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Psf Mbas to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career HBR case study mentions - Psf Mbas takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Psf Mbas 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.
Opportunities The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career | 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Psf Mbas can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Psf Mbas operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Psf Mbas can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Psf Mbas 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Psf Mbas 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Psf Mbas 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Psf Mbas can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Psf Mbas 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, The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Psf Mbas 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Psf Mbas to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Psf Mbas in the consumer business. Now Psf Mbas can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Psf Mbas 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Psf Mbas is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Psf Mbas 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 Psf Mbas 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.
Threats The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Psf Mbas 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.
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. Psf Mbas can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Psf Mbas 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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 Psf Mbas in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Psf Mbas 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.
Increasing wage structure of Psf Mbas
– 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 Psf Mbas.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Psf Mbas 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Psf Mbas 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.
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 Psf Mbas business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Psf Mbas.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Psf Mbas has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Psf Mbas 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Psf Mbas is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Psf Mbas in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 The First Six Months: Launching a PSF Career 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 Psf Mbas needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
