Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A)
This case frames a common business situation in which the protagonist (in this case a commercial lender who has made a mistake which might cost him his job) is faced with making a decision for which no outcome is desirable.
Swot Analysis of "Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A)" written by R. Edward Freeman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Palisades Ryan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Ethics, Financial management, Leadership, Leading teams, Personnel policies and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Palisades Ryan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Palisades Ryan 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Palisades Ryan
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 Palisades Ryan
Strengths Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Palisades Ryan in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Palisades Ryan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Palisades Ryan 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 Palisades Ryan is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Palisades Ryan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Palisades Ryan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Palisades Ryan 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 R. Edward Freeman 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Palisades Ryan in the sector have low bargaining power. Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Palisades Ryan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Palisades Ryan 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.
Organizational Resilience of Palisades Ryan
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Palisades Ryan does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Palisades Ryan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Palisades Ryan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Palisades Ryan 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Palisades Ryan is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Palisades Ryan is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Palisades Ryan 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. Palisades Ryan 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Palisades Ryan, firm in the HBR case study Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Palisades Ryan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Palisades Ryan 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Palisades Ryan is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) HBR case study mentions - Palisades Ryan 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Palisades Ryan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Palisades Ryan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Palisades Ryan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A), in the dynamic environment Palisades Ryan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Palisades Ryan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Palisades Ryan 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Palisades Ryan 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 - Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Palisades Ryan 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.
Opportunities Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) | 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) are -
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 Palisades Ryan 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Palisades Ryan 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Palisades Ryan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Palisades Ryan has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Palisades Ryan to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) case study. Palisades Ryan can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Palisades Ryan can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Palisades Ryan can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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.
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. Palisades Ryan 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. Palisades Ryan 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Palisades Ryan 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Palisades Ryan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Palisades Ryan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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.
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. Palisades Ryan can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Palisades Ryan 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Palisades Ryan 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.
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 Palisades Ryan in the consumer business. Now Palisades Ryan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Palisades Ryan 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 Palisades Ryan is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Palisades Ryan 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Palisades Ryan can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Palisades Ryan 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Palisades Ryan in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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 Palisades Ryan.
Increasing wage structure of Palisades Ryan
– 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 Palisades Ryan.
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. Palisades Ryan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Palisades Ryan 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) .
Environmental challenges
– Palisades Ryan 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. Palisades Ryan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Palisades Ryan business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Jack Ryan and Palisades Produce: Tough Decisions at Pacific Trust (A) 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 Palisades Ryan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
