PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout
Xerox has established a process to spin out technologies it develops that do not fit with its current business needs. To structure these "spinouts," a number of issues arise on how to treat people and intellectual property. PlaceWare is the first technology to go through this process.
Swot Analysis of "PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout" written by Henry W. Chesbrough includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Placeware Xerox facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Research & development, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Placeware Xerox, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Placeware Xerox 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Placeware Xerox
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 Placeware Xerox
Strengths PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Placeware Xerox in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Placeware Xerox 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 Placeware Xerox digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Placeware Xerox 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Placeware Xerox has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Placeware Xerox 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.
Learning organization
- Placeware Xerox 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 Placeware Xerox is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Placeware Xerox has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Placeware Xerox to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Placeware Xerox 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Placeware Xerox is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Placeware Xerox has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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.
Organizational Resilience of Placeware Xerox
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Placeware Xerox does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Placeware Xerox in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Placeware Xerox 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 Placeware Xerox in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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.
Weaknesses PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Placeware Xerox 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, it seems that the employees of Placeware Xerox 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.
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 Placeware Xerox supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Placeware Xerox vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Placeware Xerox, firm in the HBR case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Placeware Xerox 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Placeware Xerox is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Placeware Xerox needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Placeware Xerox to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout HBR case study mentions - Placeware Xerox 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, in the dynamic environment Placeware Xerox has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Placeware Xerox has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 Placeware Xerox 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Placeware Xerox products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Placeware Xerox needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout | 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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, Placeware Xerox can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Placeware Xerox operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Placeware Xerox to increase its market reach. Placeware Xerox 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Placeware Xerox 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. Placeware Xerox 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Placeware Xerox 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 Placeware Xerox to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Placeware Xerox 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.
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. Placeware Xerox can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Placeware Xerox 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Placeware Xerox can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Placeware Xerox in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Placeware Xerox in the consumer business. Now Placeware Xerox can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Placeware Xerox 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, PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, 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, Placeware Xerox is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Placeware Xerox 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Placeware Xerox is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Placeware Xerox with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Placeware Xerox 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
– Placeware Xerox 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Placeware Xerox has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Placeware Xerox 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.
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.
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. Placeware Xerox needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Placeware Xerox 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.
Environmental challenges
– Placeware Xerox 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. Placeware Xerox can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout, Placeware Xerox 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 .
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 Placeware Xerox.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Placeware Xerox 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 PlaceWare: Issues in Structuring a Xerox Technology Spinout 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 Placeware Xerox needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.