Swot Analysis of "Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising" written by Murray J. Bryant, Karin Koopmans includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that W17568 Cp facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the W17568 Cp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which W17568 Cp 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of W17568 Cp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of W17568 Cp
Strengths Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of W17568 Cp in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of W17568 Cp in the sector have low bargaining power. Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps W17568 Cp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– W17568 Cp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled W17568 Cp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– W17568 Cp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. W17568 Cp 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that W17568 Cp 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– W17568 Cp is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– W17568 Cp is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– W17568 Cp 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– W17568 Cp has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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.
Analytics focus
– W17568 Cp 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 Murray J. Bryant, Karin Koopmans 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.
Learning organization
- W17568 Cp 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 W17568 Cp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled W17568 Cp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped W17568 Cp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– W17568 Cp is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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.
Weaknesses Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as W17568 Cp is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising, is just above the industry average. W17568 Cp 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, W17568 Cp 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. W17568 Cp 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising, in the dynamic environment W17568 Cp has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. W17568 Cp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 W17568 Cp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 W17568 Cp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left W17568 Cp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 W17568 Cp 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, W17568 Cp 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of W17568 Cp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. W17568 Cp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help W17568 Cp to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, W17568 Cp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising | 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of W17568 Cp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help W17568 Cp to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising case study. W17568 Cp can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– W17568 Cp 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. W17568 Cp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. W17568 Cp 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. W17568 Cp 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.
Manufacturing automation
– W17568 Cp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 W17568 Cp 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help W17568 Cp to increase its market reach. W17568 Cp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, W17568 Cp 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, Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, W17568 Cp 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for W17568 Cp 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– W17568 Cp 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, W17568 Cp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects W17568 Cp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising are -
Regulatory challenges
– W17568 Cp 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– W17568 Cp 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.
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 W17568 Cp in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– W17568 Cp 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. W17568 Cp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– W17568 Cp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, W17568 Cp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents W17568 Cp with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 W17568 Cp.
Consumer confidence and its impact on W17568 Cp 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.
Increasing wage structure of W17568 Cp
– 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 W17568 Cp.
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 W17568 Cp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that W17568 Cp is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 Canadian Pacific Railway (B): CP Rising 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 W17568 Cp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
