Case Study Description of Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges
The president, Donna Dubinsky, and the chairman and founder, Jeff Hawkins, discuss an opportunity to sell their company to U.S. Robotics. They must weigh this option versus accepting venture capital funding, partnering with a large company that could provide distribution channels and capital, or continuing a search for capital from other sources.
Swot Analysis of "Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges" written by Myra M. Hart, Stephanie Dodson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dubinsky Donna facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Technology, Venture capital and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dubinsky Donna, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dubinsky Donna 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dubinsky Donna
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 Dubinsky Donna
Strengths Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dubinsky Donna in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dubinsky Donna 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dubinsky Donna 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dubinsky Donna is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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.
Organizational Resilience of Dubinsky Donna
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dubinsky Donna does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dubinsky Donna 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dubinsky Donna digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dubinsky Donna 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.
Training and development
– Dubinsky Donna has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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
– Dubinsky Donna 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 Myra M. Hart, Stephanie Dodson 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Dubinsky Donna is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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
– Dubinsky Donna is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Dubinsky Donna is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges HBR case study mentions - Dubinsky Donna 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dubinsky Donna 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 - Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Dubinsky Donna has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges, is just above the industry average. Dubinsky Donna 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Dubinsky Donna has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Dubinsky Donna 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dubinsky Donna products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dubinsky Donna needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dubinsky Donna 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 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 Dubinsky Donna supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dubinsky Donna vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dubinsky Donna has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges | 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dubinsky Donna in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dubinsky Donna can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Dubinsky Donna 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Dubinsky Donna 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dubinsky Donna 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 Dubinsky Donna to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dubinsky Donna can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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 Dubinsky Donna in the consumer business. Now Dubinsky Donna can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Dubinsky Donna can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dubinsky Donna 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, Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Dubinsky Donna can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dubinsky Donna 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dubinsky Donna has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dubinsky Donna to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges case study. Dubinsky Donna can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dubinsky Donna to increase its market reach. Dubinsky Donna 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.
Threats Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges are -
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 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 Dubinsky Donna is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Dubinsky Donna business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Dubinsky Donna in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dubinsky Donna 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.
Environmental challenges
– Dubinsky Donna 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. Dubinsky Donna can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dubinsky Donna 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges .
Regulatory challenges
– Dubinsky Donna 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges, Dubinsky Donna 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dubinsky Donna has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dubinsky Donna 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.
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. Dubinsky Donna needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Dubinsky Donna can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Palm Computing, Inc.--1995: Financing Challenges 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 Dubinsky Donna needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
