Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision
The Indian aviation market, having experienced high growth rates that were expected to continue through 2016, was opened to foreign investment in 2012. Singapore Airlines is considering entering the market in a partnership with India's largest industrial group, the Tata Group. At the time of the case, there are five major players, none of which is dominant. Learning objectives: These include: 1) learning to gauge the attractiveness of an industry based on Porter's five forces analysis; 2) understanding how each of the five forces - supplier power, customer power, substitutes, new entrants and degree of competitive rivalry - affect industry profitability; 3) applying a STEEP analysis (social, technological, economic, environmental, political) to predict the future attractiveness of an industry.
Authors :: Daina Mazutis, John Weeks, Luis Vivanco, Ivy Buche
Swot Analysis of "Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision" written by Daina Mazutis, John Weeks, Luis Vivanco, Ivy Buche includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Attractiveness Singapore facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Attractiveness Singapore, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Attractiveness Singapore 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 Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Attractiveness Singapore
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Attractiveness Singapore
Strengths Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Attractiveness Singapore in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Attractiveness Singapore is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Attractiveness Singapore digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision Harvard Business Review case study 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
– Attractiveness Singapore 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 suggested by Daina Mazutis, John Weeks, Luis Vivanco, Ivy Buche can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Strong track record of project management
– Attractiveness Singapore is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Attractiveness Singapore in the sector have low bargaining power. Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Attractiveness Singapore to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Attractiveness Singapore has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Attractiveness Singapore is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Attractiveness Singapore has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Attractiveness Singapore to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Attractiveness Singapore to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Attractiveness Singapore to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Attractiveness Singapore is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Attractiveness Singapore has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Attractiveness Singapore, firm in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Attractiveness Singapore supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Attractiveness Singapore vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision HBR case study mentions - Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Attractiveness Singapore has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Attractiveness Singapore 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision, is just above the industry average. Attractiveness Singapore 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. 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, Attractiveness Singapore 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. Attractiveness Singapore 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 Attractiveness Singapore products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Attractiveness Singapore needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision, it seems that the employees of Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Opportunities Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision are -
Buying journey improvements
– Attractiveness Singapore can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision suggest that firm 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
– Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Attractiveness Singapore 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, as suggested in case study, Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Attractiveness Singapore 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 Attractiveness Singapore to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Attractiveness Singapore can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Attractiveness Singapore can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Attractiveness Singapore 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. Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Attractiveness Singapore 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, Attractiveness Singapore can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Attractiveness Singapore operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Attractiveness Singapore to increase its market reach. Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Attractiveness Singapore can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Attractiveness Singapore in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Attractiveness Singapore can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Attractiveness Singapore with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Attractiveness Singapore 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 the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Attractiveness Singapore 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 prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision .
Increasing wage structure of Attractiveness Singapore
– 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 Attractiveness Singapore.
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 Attractiveness Singapore business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Attractiveness Singapore in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Attractiveness Singapore 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.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Attractiveness Singapore.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Attractiveness Singapore has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Attractiveness Singapore needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Attractiveness Singapore 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision 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 the case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision 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 the Harvard case study Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision 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 Singapore Airlines (A): The India Decision is 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 Attractiveness Singapore needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.