Case Study Description of PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People
PremiumSoft had been a competitive player in the SQL software market for 10 years. Like many software companies, PremiumSoft's business model required that it continuously evolve its current successful product lines through research and development. At the core of the business was its creative people: they were the company's largest asset. PremiumSoft had created a team-centric, informal work environment that promoted creativity and innovation and attracted the best candidates. As a small company, PremiumSoft had a mix of formal and informal controls when dealing with recruiting, retention, roles, and responsibilities. It had achieved success with hiring, retaining, and managing its current employees and wanted to ensure that it could maintain this success with future growth. In 2010, PremiumSoft's owners were looking to grow the business through the development of new software. This growth required an expansion of its staff by 25 percent and the addition of a new product line.
Swot Analysis of "PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People" written by Neale O'Connor, April Yu, Melissa Moi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Human resource management, Innovation, Motivating people, Performance measurement and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's
Strengths PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 Neale O'Connor, April Yu, Melissa Moi 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's in the sector have low bargaining power. PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People are -
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's, firm in the HBR case study PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People, in the dynamic environment Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 - PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People, is just above the industry average. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People | 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People are -
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's in the consumer business. Now Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People case study. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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.
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People are -
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's
– 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's.
Regulatory challenges
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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. Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 PremiumSoft: Managing Creative People 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 Premiumsoft Premiumsoft's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.