SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Prudential Pennsylvania (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Prudential Pennsylvania is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Prudential Pennsylvania
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Prudential Pennsylvania can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Prudential Pennsylvania, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Prudential Pennsylvania
2. Improving business portfolio management of Prudential Pennsylvania
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Prudential Pennsylvania
Strengths of Prudential Pennsylvania | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Prudential Pennsylvania are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Prudential Pennsylvania has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Learning organization
- Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Prudential Pennsylvania emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Prudential Pennsylvania has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Prudential Pennsylvania is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in United States. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United States. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Regional Banks industry. The technology infrastructure of United States 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Prudential Pennsylvania comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Regional Banks 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Prudential Pennsylvania is one of the most innovative firm in Regional Banks sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Prudential Pennsylvania has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Regional Banks industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Prudential Pennsylvania have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Prudential Pennsylvania has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Prudential Pennsylvania to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Prudential Pennsylvania
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Prudential Pennsylvania does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Prudential Pennsylvania 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
– Prudential Pennsylvania has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Weaknesses of Prudential Pennsylvania | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Prudential Pennsylvania are -
Need for greater diversity
– Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Prudential Pennsylvania is just above the Regional Banks 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 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 Prudential Pennsylvania supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Prudential Pennsylvania is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Prudential Pennsylvania vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Prudential Pennsylvania, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Regional Banks industry. 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Prudential Pennsylvania, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Prudential Pennsylvania has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Prudential Pennsylvania is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but Prudential Pennsylvania needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Prudential Pennsylvania to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Prudential Pennsylvania products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Prudential Pennsylvania needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Prudential Pennsylvania has high operating costs in the Regional Banks industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Prudential Pennsylvania lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Prudential Pennsylvania is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Prudential Pennsylvania to provide better information regarding Regional Banks products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on Prudential Pennsylvania ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Prudential Pennsylvania still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Regional Banks industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Prudential Pennsylvania has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Prudential Pennsylvania Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Prudential Pennsylvania are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Prudential Pennsylvania has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help Prudential Pennsylvania to build a more holistic ecosystem for Prudential Pennsylvania products in the Regional Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania to increase its market reach. Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
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. Prudential Pennsylvania can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Prudential Pennsylvania can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Regional Banks 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Regional Banks industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Prudential Pennsylvania 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. Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Prudential Pennsylvania has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Prudential Pennsylvania to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Prudential Pennsylvania to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Regional Banks industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Prudential Pennsylvania can develop new processes and procedures in Regional Banks 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Prudential Pennsylvania in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Regional Banks industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Prudential Pennsylvania can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Prudential Pennsylvania operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Regional Banks sector.
Threats Prudential Pennsylvania External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Prudential Pennsylvania are -
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 Prudential Pennsylvania.
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 Prudential Pennsylvania business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Prudential Pennsylvania in the Regional Banks sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Prudential Pennsylvania 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Prudential Pennsylvania in Regional Banks industry. The Regional Banks industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Prudential Pennsylvania
– 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 Prudential Pennsylvania.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Regional Banks industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Prudential Pennsylvania has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Regional Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Prudential Pennsylvania needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Regional Banks 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.
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. Prudential Pennsylvania needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Regional Banks 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Prudential Pennsylvania is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Prudential Pennsylvania 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. Prudential Pennsylvania can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Regional Banks industry are lowering. It can presents Prudential Pennsylvania with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Regional Banks sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Prudential Pennsylvania Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania 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 Prudential Pennsylvania needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.