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Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest


This case argues that central to being a professional is the pledge to manage conflicts of interest such that client interest is placed foremost.

Authors :: Ashish Nanda

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Ethics, Regulation, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest" written by Ashish Nanda includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pledge Professionalism facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Regulation and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pledge Professionalism, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pledge Professionalism 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pledge Professionalism
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 Pledge Professionalism




Strengths Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Pledge Professionalism in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest Harvard Business Review case study are -

Highly skilled collaborators

– Pledge Professionalism 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Analytics focus

– Pledge Professionalism 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 Ashish Nanda 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 Pledge Professionalism 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Pledge Professionalism is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pledge Professionalism to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pledge Professionalism to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Pledge Professionalism is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High brand equity

– Pledge Professionalism has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pledge Professionalism to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Organizational Resilience of Pledge Professionalism

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pledge Professionalism does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pledge Professionalism digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pledge Professionalism 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.

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Pledge Professionalism 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 Pledge Professionalism in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Pledge Professionalism is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Learning organization

- Pledge Professionalism 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 Pledge Professionalism is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.






Weaknesses Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Pledge Professionalism 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest HBR case study mentions - Pledge Professionalism 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest, in the dynamic environment Pledge Professionalism has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pledge Professionalism has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest, it seems that the employees of Pledge Professionalism don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.

Lack of clear differentiation of Pledge Professionalism products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pledge Professionalism needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pledge Professionalism 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.

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 Pledge Professionalism supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pledge Professionalism vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Pledge Professionalism 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Pledge Professionalism 's lucrative customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Pledge Professionalism 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 bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ashish Nanda suggests that, Pledge Professionalism is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.




Opportunities Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest | 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Pledge Professionalism 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.

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 Pledge Professionalism 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pledge Professionalism in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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. Pledge Professionalism can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Pledge Professionalism 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pledge Professionalism to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pledge Professionalism 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pledge Professionalism is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Pledge Professionalism has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pledge Professionalism to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest case study. Pledge Professionalism can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pledge Professionalism 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.

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. Pledge Professionalism can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Pledge Professionalism in the consumer business. Now Pledge Professionalism can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Buying journey improvements

– Pledge Professionalism can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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

– Pledge Professionalism 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.




Threats Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest are -

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pledge Professionalism 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.

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 Pledge Professionalism business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Pledge Professionalism 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.

Environmental challenges

– Pledge Professionalism 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. Pledge Professionalism can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pledge Professionalism 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Pledge Professionalism has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pledge Professionalism 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.

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 Pledge Professionalism.

Regulatory challenges

– Pledge Professionalism 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Pledge Professionalism 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.

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. Pledge Professionalism can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Pledge Professionalism is facing in Leadership & Managing People 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Essence of Professionalism: Managing Conflict of Interest 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 Pledge Professionalism needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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