Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division
This case provides the confidential role information necessary for one person in a four-person negotiation simulation about a major corporate change. Specifically, it describes the role of Paul Stokes as he attempts to negotiate a new uniform corporate information system with three peers.
Swot Analysis of "Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division" written by James K. Sebenius includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stokes Paul facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Health, Influence, IT, Negotiations and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stokes Paul, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stokes Paul 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stokes Paul
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 Stokes Paul
Strengths Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stokes Paul in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Stokes Paul has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stokes Paul to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Stokes Paul is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Stokes Paul 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Stokes Paul digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Stokes Paul 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Stokes Paul in the sector have low bargaining power. Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Stokes Paul to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Stokes Paul 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 Stokes Paul in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Stokes Paul 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 James K. Sebenius 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.
Training and development
– Stokes Paul has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stokes Paul 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stokes Paul is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stokes Paul in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Stokes Paul supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stokes Paul vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Stokes Paul is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Stokes Paul needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Stokes Paul to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stokes Paul is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Stokes Paul has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Stokes Paul 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stokes Paul 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Stokes Paul 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 - Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division HBR case study mentions - Stokes Paul 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stokes Paul, firm in the HBR case study Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stokes Paul 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.
Opportunities Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division | 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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, Stokes Paul can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Stokes Paul operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Stokes Paul 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. Stokes Paul 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Stokes Paul can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Stokes Paul 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Stokes Paul can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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.
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 Stokes Paul in the consumer business. Now Stokes Paul can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Stokes Paul 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Stokes Paul to increase its market reach. Stokes Paul 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stokes Paul 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 Stokes Paul can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stokes Paul 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.
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. Stokes Paul can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stokes Paul 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stokes Paul to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stokes Paul 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.
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 Stokes Paul.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stokes Paul is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Stokes Paul in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division, Stokes Paul may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stokes Paul has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stokes Paul 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stokes Paul 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Stokes Paul 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.
Environmental challenges
– Stokes Paul 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. Stokes Paul can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Stokes Paul 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stokes Paul 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division .
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. Stokes Paul 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division 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 Stokes Paul needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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