Prudential PLC Cap Sec (PUK_p) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Prudential PLC Cap Sec (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Prudential PLC Cap Sec is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Prudential PLC Cap Sec
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Prudential PLC Cap Sec can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Prudential PLC Cap Sec, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Prudential PLC Cap Sec
2. Improving business portfolio management of Prudential PLC Cap Sec
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 Prudential PLC Cap Sec
Strengths of Prudential PLC Cap Sec | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Prudential PLC Cap Sec are -
Learning organization
- Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Prudential PLC Cap Sec emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Prudential PLC Cap Sec staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Organizational Resilience of Prudential PLC Cap Sec
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Prudential PLC Cap Sec does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 Prudential PLC Cap Sec have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
High brand equity
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Prudential PLC Cap Sec to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Prudential PLC Cap Sec digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Prudential PLC Cap Sec has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Prudential PLC Cap Sec to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Prudential PLC Cap Sec to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Prudential PLC Cap Sec | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Prudential PLC Cap Sec are -
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Prudential PLC Cap Sec has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Prudential PLC Cap Sec is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Prudential PLC Cap Sec to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Prudential PLC Cap Sec has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Prudential PLC Cap Sec should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Prudential PLC Cap Sec strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Prudential PLC Cap Sec is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Prudential PLC Cap Sec needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Prudential PLC Cap Sec to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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. Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Prudential PLC Cap Sec products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Prudential PLC Cap Sec needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Prudential PLC Cap Sec Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Prudential PLC Cap Sec are -
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. Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Prudential PLC Cap Sec to increase its market reach. Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 Prudential PLC Cap Sec to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Prudential PLC Cap Sec has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Prudential PLC Cap Sec to build a more holistic ecosystem for Prudential PLC Cap Sec products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Prudential PLC Cap Sec is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Prudential PLC Cap Sec can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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 PLC Cap Sec 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, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
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 Prudential PLC Cap Sec in the industry. Now Prudential PLC Cap Sec can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Threats Prudential PLC Cap Sec External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Prudential PLC Cap Sec are -
Increasing wage structure of Prudential PLC Cap Sec
– 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 PLC Cap Sec.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Prudential PLC Cap Sec with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 PLC Cap Sec needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Prudential PLC Cap Sec is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Environmental challenges
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Prudential PLC Cap Sec in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 industry.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Prudential PLC Cap Sec Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Prudential PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec 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 PLC Cap Sec needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.