Personal Group Holdings (PGH) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Insurance (Accident & Health)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Personal Group Holdings (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Personal Group Holdings is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Personal Group Holdings
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Personal Group Holdings can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Personal Group Holdings, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Personal Group Holdings
2. Improving business portfolio management of Personal Group Holdings
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Insurance (Accident & Health) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Personal Group Holdings
Strengths of Personal Group Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Personal Group Holdings are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Personal Group Holdings has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Personal Group Holdings staying ahead in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Insurance (Accident & Health)
– Personal Group Holdings is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Personal Group Holdings in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Personal Group Holdings has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Personal Group Holdings to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Personal Group Holdings is present in almost all the verticals within the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. This has provided Personal Group Holdings 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Personal Group Holdings 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Personal Group Holdings in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Personal Group Holdings has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Personal Group Holdings have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Personal Group Holdings digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Personal Group Holdings 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry
– Personal Group Holdings has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Personal Group Holdings to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Personal Group Holdings to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Personal Group Holdings
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Personal Group Holdings does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Personal Group Holdings in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Personal Group Holdings has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Personal Group Holdings to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Personal Group Holdings 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 Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. The technology infrastructure of United Kingdom 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.
Weaknesses of Personal Group Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Personal Group Holdings are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Personal Group Holdings 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 Insurance (Accident & Health) 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, Personal Group Holdings is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Personal Group Holdings to provide better information regarding Insurance (Accident & Health) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Personal Group Holdings has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry over the last five years. Personal Group Holdings even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Personal Group Holdings is just above the Insurance (Accident & Health) 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, Personal Group Holdings 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 Insurance (Accident & Health) industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Personal Group Holdings needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Personal Group Holdings can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Personal Group Holdings is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Personal Group Holdings is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry, but Personal Group Holdings needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Personal Group Holdings to focus more on services in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Personal Group Holdings has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Insurance (Accident & Health) 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 dependence on Personal Group Holdings ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Personal Group Holdings still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Personal Group Holdings has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Personal Group Holdings 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Personal Group Holdings has high operating costs in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Personal Group Holdings lucrative customers.
Personal Group Holdings Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Personal Group Holdings 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, Personal Group Holdings can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Personal Group Holdings operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Insurance (Accident & Health) sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Personal Group Holdings can develop new processes and procedures in Insurance (Accident & Health) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Personal Group Holdings has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Insurance (Accident & Health) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Personal Group Holdings to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Personal Group Holdings to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Personal Group Holdings has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. This can help Personal Group Holdings to build a more holistic ecosystem for Personal Group Holdings products in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Personal Group Holdings can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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 Personal Group Holdings 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 Insurance (Accident & Health) industry.
Loyalty marketing
– Personal Group Holdings 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Personal Group Holdings can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Personal Group Holdings to increase its market reach. Personal Group Holdings 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Personal Group Holdings is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Personal Group Holdings can utilize new technology in the field of Insurance (Accident & Health) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Personal Group Holdings in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. Now Personal Group Holdings can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Personal Group Holdings can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Personal Group Holdings External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Personal Group Holdings are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Personal Group Holdings can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Personal Group Holdings 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 Insurance (Accident & Health) industry.
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. Personal Group Holdings needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Personal Group Holdings
– 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 Personal Group Holdings.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Personal Group Holdings is facing in Insurance (Accident & Health) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Personal Group Holdings 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. Personal Group Holdings can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Insurance (Accident & Health) industry.
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 Personal Group Holdings in the Insurance (Accident & Health) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Personal Group Holdings business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Personal Group Holdings.
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. Personal Group Holdings 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Personal Group Holdings in Insurance (Accident & Health) industry. The Insurance (Accident & Health) 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Personal Group Holdings Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings 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 Personal Group Holdings needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
