PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income (PGP) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Misc. Financial Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
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, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
2. Improving business portfolio management of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
Strengths of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
High brand equity
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Organizational Resilience of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Financial Services industry
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Diverse revenue streams
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Financial Services industry. This has provided PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income in Misc. Financial Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income staying ahead in the Misc. Financial Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Financial Services industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has high operating costs in the Misc. Financial Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is just above the Misc. Financial Services industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Financial Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Financial Services 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.
Loyalty marketing
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to increase its market reach. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Financial Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income in the Misc. Financial Services industry. Now PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Threats PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income are -
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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income in the Misc. Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income is facing in Misc. Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 Misc. Financial Services industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Misc. Financial Services industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income
– 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Financial Services 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.
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. PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Financial Services industry are lowering. It can presents PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Financial Services sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income 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 PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.