SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pressman Advertising Ltd (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pressman Advertising Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pressman Advertising Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pressman Advertising Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pressman Advertising Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pressman Advertising Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pressman Advertising Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Advertising sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pressman Advertising Ltd
Strengths of Pressman Advertising Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pressman Advertising Ltd are -
Analytics focus
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Advertising industry. The technology infrastructure of India is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Advertising industry
– Pressman Advertising Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pressman Advertising Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Advertising industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pressman Advertising Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Pressman Advertising Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pressman Advertising Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Pressman Advertising Ltd is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in India. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in India. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Training and development
– Pressman Advertising Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pressman Advertising Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Advertising industry. This has provided Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Pressman Advertising Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Advertising sector.
Learning organization
- Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Pressman Advertising Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pressman Advertising Ltd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Pressman Advertising Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pressman Advertising Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Advertising
– Pressman Advertising Ltd is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Advertising industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Pressman Advertising Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pressman Advertising Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Pressman Advertising Ltd staying ahead in the Advertising industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Pressman Advertising Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pressman Advertising Ltd are -
Skills based hiring in Advertising industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pressman Advertising Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Advertising industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Pressman Advertising Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Pressman Advertising Ltd has high operating costs in the Advertising industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Pressman Advertising Ltd lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Pressman Advertising Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Advertising industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pressman Advertising Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pressman Advertising Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Advertising industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Pressman Advertising Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Advertising industry, Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Pressman Advertising Ltd is just above the Advertising industry average. It 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pressman Advertising Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pressman Advertising Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ less understanding of Pressman Advertising Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Advertising industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pressman Advertising Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Advertising industry, but Pressman Advertising Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pressman Advertising Ltd to focus more on services in the Advertising industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Pressman Advertising Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Pressman Advertising Ltd are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pressman Advertising Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Advertising industry. This can help Pressman Advertising Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Pressman Advertising Ltd products in the Advertising industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Pressman Advertising Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Advertising sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pressman Advertising Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Advertising industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pressman Advertising Ltd 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. Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pressman Advertising Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pressman Advertising Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Advertising sector.
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 Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pressman Advertising Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Advertising sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Pressman Advertising Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pressman Advertising Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
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. Pressman Advertising Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pressman Advertising Ltd to increase its market reach. Pressman Advertising Ltd 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pressman Advertising Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pressman Advertising Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Advertising industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Pressman Advertising Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pressman Advertising Ltd are -
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.
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 Pressman Advertising Ltd in the Advertising sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd prominent markets.
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 Pressman Advertising Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Pressman Advertising Ltd
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Pressman Advertising Ltd.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pressman Advertising Ltd is facing in Advertising sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Pressman Advertising Ltd.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Advertising industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Advertising industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Pressman Advertising Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Pressman Advertising Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Advertising industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Advertising industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Advertising industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Pressman Advertising Ltd 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. Pressman Advertising Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Advertising industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pressman Advertising Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd 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 Pressman Advertising Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.