Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref (PYS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref
Strengths of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref are -
Learning organization
- Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Analytics focus
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Ability to lead change in
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Organizational Resilience of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
High brand equity
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref in the sector have low bargaining power. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Employees’ less understanding of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
High dependence on Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to increase its market reach. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
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. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
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. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Threats Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Increasing wage structure of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref 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.
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. Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 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 Pplus Trust Series RRD 1 Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
