Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref (PCG_pe) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Electric Utilities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref
Strengths of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in Electric Utilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities 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.
High brand equity
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in the Utilities sector have low bargaining power. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Electric Utilities
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electric Utilities industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electric Utilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has one of the best training and development program in Utilities 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.
Analytics focus
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is present in almost all the verticals within the Electric Utilities industry. This has provided Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Digital Transformation in Electric Utilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Electric Utilities 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref, in the dynamic environment of Electric Utilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Electric Utilities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry over the last five years. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Electric Utilities industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities industry.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref are -
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. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Electric Utilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can develop new processes and procedures in Electric Utilities 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
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Electric Utilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Electric Utilities 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to increase its market reach. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Electric Utilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Electric Utilities industry. This can help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref products in the Electric Utilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref are -
Increasing wage structure of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref
– 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities industry and other sectors.
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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in the Electric Utilities sector and impact the bottomline 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Electric Utilities industry.
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. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref in Electric Utilities industry. The Electric Utilities 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electric Utilities industry are lowering. It can presents Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electric Utilities sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pe Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
