PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER
The case is a true story with disguised names, and was developed with the help of the protagonist, "Philip Chase," who runs a "successful" executive placement agency, Retail Personnel Flow (RPF). However, the case reveals that it is perhaps not as "successful" as he seemed to think. Philip has just learned from an employee that his company's biggest client, Winterplain, is about to offer the important Kash-n-Karry contract to RPF's main competitor, NY-Lon. At first, Philip thinks it is just a rumor, but later that day discovers that a prospective candidate has already been through several rounds of interviews with NY-Lon. The HR director at Winterplain confirms that there are service quality issues. She agrees to meet Philip the next day and sends a memo listing Winterplain's concerns with RPF for him to go through before the meeting; some of the points are valid but Philip is furious about the others! It was a happy ending: RPF won back the Winterplain account, including Kash-n-Karry. NY-Lon's foray into retail placements was short-lived since it could not cope with the complexity of the retail labor market. Learning objectives: The case provides participants with an understanding of the political dynamics of the relationship between professional firms and their clients. Participants get to appreciate the role of networks in improving one's social power and influence ability. The case can also be used in role-playing how difficult political situations can be resolved.
Swot Analysis of "PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER" written by Anand Narasimhan, Brett Burgess includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Philip Rpf facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Talent management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Philip Rpf, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Philip Rpf 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Philip Rpf
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 Philip Rpf
Strengths PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Philip Rpf in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Philip Rpf 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Philip Rpf has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Philip Rpf to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Philip Rpf is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Philip Rpf has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Philip Rpf 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Philip Rpf to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Philip Rpf to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Philip Rpf is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Philip Rpf
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Philip Rpf does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Philip Rpf 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 Philip Rpf in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Philip Rpf 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 Philip Rpf is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Philip Rpf in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Philip Rpf digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Philip Rpf has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER, 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 Philip Rpf supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Philip Rpf vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Philip Rpf products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Philip Rpf needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER, it seems that the employees of Philip Rpf 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Philip Rpf 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anand Narasimhan, Brett Burgess suggests that, Philip Rpf 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Philip Rpf, firm in the HBR case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Philip Rpf 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. Philip Rpf 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Philip Rpf 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 - PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Philip Rpf 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Philip Rpf is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER | 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER are -
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. Philip Rpf can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Philip Rpf 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.
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 Philip Rpf in the consumer business. Now Philip Rpf can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Philip Rpf can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Philip Rpf 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Philip Rpf to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Philip Rpf to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Philip Rpf 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Philip Rpf to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Philip Rpf 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. Philip Rpf 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Philip Rpf 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.
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 Philip Rpf 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Philip Rpf 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Philip Rpf to increase its market reach. Philip Rpf 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Philip Rpf has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Philip Rpf to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER case study. Philip Rpf can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Philip Rpf has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Philip Rpf 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Philip Rpf 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
– Philip Rpf 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.
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 Philip Rpf in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Philip Rpf 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Philip Rpf 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.
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. Philip Rpf needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER, Philip Rpf 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 .
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.
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. Philip Rpf 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.
Environmental challenges
– Philip Rpf 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. Philip Rpf can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
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 Philip Rpf.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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 PHILIP CHASE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POWER 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 Philip Rpf needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
