Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007
This case tells the story of Paresh Patel, born in Boston to an Indian immigrant family, as he develops an entrepreneurial career, participates in the Indian diaspora, and builds a family life. It provides background on Paresh's heritage; describes his youth and education (including HBS); his learning experience as the manager of a large family fund; his decision to launch a hedge fund in India; and the first years of the venture. It also profiles Nirva Patel, and describes how they met, married, and managed the transition to a new life in Mumbai, including the impact on her career and personal aspirations. The case issue, set in October 2007, is whether to have their first child in Mumbai, or return to the U.S. for the delivery.
Swot Analysis of "Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007" written by Howard H. Stevenson, Shirley M. Spence includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Patel Paresh facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Work-life balance and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Patel Paresh, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Patel Paresh 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Patel Paresh
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Patel Paresh
Strengths Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Patel Paresh in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Patel Paresh is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Patel Paresh is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Patel Paresh in the sector have low bargaining power. Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Patel Paresh to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Patel Paresh 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Patel Paresh has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Patel Paresh 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.
Training and development
– Patel Paresh has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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)
– Patel Paresh 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Patel Paresh has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Patel Paresh to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Patel Paresh to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Patel Paresh to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Patel Paresh 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Patel Paresh is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Patel Paresh digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Patel Paresh 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.
Weaknesses Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Patel Paresh products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Patel Paresh needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Patel Paresh has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Patel Paresh 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007, is just above the industry average. Patel Paresh 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Patel Paresh 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 - Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Patel Paresh 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Patel Paresh 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007, in the dynamic environment Patel Paresh has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Patel Paresh has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007, it seems that the employees of Patel Paresh 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Patel Paresh has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Patel Paresh 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. Patel Paresh 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.
Opportunities Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 | 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 are -
Buying journey improvements
– Patel Paresh can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Patel Paresh 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.
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 Patel Paresh in the consumer business. Now Patel Paresh can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Patel Paresh 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Patel Paresh has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Patel Paresh to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 case study. Patel Paresh can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Patel Paresh 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Patel Paresh to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Patel Paresh 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, Patel Paresh 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
– Patel Paresh 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Patel Paresh 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, Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Patel Paresh can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Patel Paresh 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 Patel Paresh to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Patel Paresh can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Patel Paresh with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Patel Paresh business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Patel Paresh 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
– Patel Paresh has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Patel Paresh needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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 Patel Paresh in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Patel Paresh 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007, Patel Paresh may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Increasing wage structure of Patel Paresh
– 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 Patel Paresh.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Patel Paresh can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Patel Paresh 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Patel Paresh 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Paresh Patel: Building a Life in the Context of Global Business - October 2007 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 Patel Paresh needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.