Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref (PCG_pg) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref
Strengths of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref are -
Learning organization
- Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Analytics focus
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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.
High brand equity
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is one of the leading players in the 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref 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.
Training and development
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has one of the best training and development program in 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry over the last five years. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the 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 bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry using digital technology.
High dependence on Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref is just above the 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref lucrative customers.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg Pref are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref in the industry. Now Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref 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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref can develop new processes and procedures in 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry.
Buying journey improvements
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
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 Pg 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 Pg Pref to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Pg 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
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.
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 Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg Pref.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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.
Environmental challenges
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 industry and other sectors.
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. Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Pg Pref in industry. The 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg Pref needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pacific Gas and Electric Co Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg 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 Pg Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
