Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce
In 2014, the chief executive officer (CEO) and owner of Pak Sweets was worried about diversity issues in his organization. The sweets-making factory, once a one-room business and now a full-fledged factory in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was highly dependent on blue-collar workers. Each production process required workers with diverse skills, so the company hired employees from different provinces of Pakistan, representing multiple ethnicities. The ethnicities were fundamentally diverse with different languages, cultures, and codes of conduct. As the company grew, conflicts increased between employees of different ethnicities. This everyday minor problem turned into a major challenge when it caused property damage, financial losses, and a decline in productivity. Pak Sweets was unable to meet demand, and the company's reputation was at stake. The CEO believed that firing the troublemakers was not an option; it would only address the problem temporarily and might result in union strikes and lockouts. The CEO needed a plan to resolve the ethnic-based conflicts in the factory and their negative impact on the company. Maria Khan is affiliated with National University of Sciences and Technology. Zunaira Saqib is affiliated with National University of Sciences and Technology. Nataliya Farrukh is affiliated with National University of Sciences and Technology. Fatima Tanvir is affiliated with National University of Sciences and Technology. Kahaf Pasha is affiliated with National University of Sciences and Technology.
Authors :: Maria Khan, Zunaira Saqib, Nataliya Farrukh, Fatima Tanvir
Swot Analysis of "Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce" written by Maria Khan, Zunaira Saqib, Nataliya Farrukh, Fatima Tanvir includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sweets Ethnicities facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Diversity, Manufacturing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sweets Ethnicities, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sweets Ethnicities 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sweets Ethnicities
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 Sweets Ethnicities
Strengths Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sweets Ethnicities in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Sweets Ethnicities 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 Maria Khan, Zunaira Saqib, Nataliya Farrukh, Fatima Tanvir 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sweets Ethnicities in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Sweets Ethnicities has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sweets Ethnicities has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sweets Ethnicities has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sweets Ethnicities is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Sweets Ethnicities is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Sweets Ethnicities 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 Sweets Ethnicities is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sweets Ethnicities is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Sweets Ethnicities in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sweets Ethnicities to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sweets Ethnicities to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sweets Ethnicities 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sweets Ethnicities is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sweets Ethnicities is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sweets Ethnicities is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sweets Ethnicities needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sweets Ethnicities to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Sweets Ethnicities supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sweets Ethnicities vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sweets Ethnicities products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sweets Ethnicities needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Sweets Ethnicities 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Sweets Ethnicities has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sweets Ethnicities is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce HBR case study mentions - Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sweets Ethnicities 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. Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce, is just above the industry average. Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Opportunities Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce | 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sweets Ethnicities can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sweets Ethnicities operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sweets Ethnicities 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
– Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sweets Ethnicities 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 Sweets Ethnicities has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sweets Ethnicities to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce case study. Sweets Ethnicities can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sweets Ethnicities 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, Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sweets Ethnicities 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sweets Ethnicities 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, Sweets Ethnicities is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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.
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. Sweets Ethnicities 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. Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Threats Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce are -
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 Sweets Ethnicities business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sweets Ethnicities has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sweets Ethnicities needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Environmental challenges
– Sweets Ethnicities 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. Sweets Ethnicities can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sweets Ethnicities 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.
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. Sweets Ethnicities 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
– Sweets Ethnicities 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.
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 Sweets Ethnicities.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sweets Ethnicities 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.
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.
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.
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. Sweets Ethnicities needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sweets Ethnicities 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sweets Ethnicities is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Pak Sweets: Managing a Diverse Workforce 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 Sweets Ethnicities needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
