Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong
A second-generation, multi-billion-dollar Asian family business, run for decades by six brothers, faces issues of ownership, family employment, management, leadership, governance, and succession as it transitions to the third generation of siblings and cousins.
Authors :: John Ward, Suren Mansinghka, Elyssa Tran, Bhaskar Sambamurthy
Swot Analysis of "Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong" written by John Ward, Suren Mansinghka, Elyssa Tran, Bhaskar Sambamurthy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Family Harilela facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Succession planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Family Harilela, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Family Harilela 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Family Harilela
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Family Harilela
Strengths Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Family Harilela in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Family Harilela to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Family Harilela to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Family Harilela is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Family Harilela in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Family Harilela 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Family Harilela 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 Family Harilela is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Family Harilela 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 John Ward, Suren Mansinghka, Elyssa Tran, Bhaskar Sambamurthy 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.
Organizational Resilience of Family Harilela
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Family Harilela does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Family Harilela has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Family Harilela is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Family Harilela in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Family Harilela is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Family Harilela 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.
Weaknesses Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong are -
Need for greater diversity
– Family Harilela 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Family Harilela 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Family Harilela has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Family Harilela 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 - Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Family Harilela 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Family Harilela 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Family Harilela is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong, in the dynamic environment Family Harilela has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Family Harilela has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Family Harilela 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, Family Harilela 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Family Harilela is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong | 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Family Harilela has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Family Harilela to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong case study. Family Harilela can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Family Harilela 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Family Harilela in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Family Harilela to increase its market reach. Family Harilela 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.
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 Family Harilela 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Family Harilela 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. Family Harilela 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Family Harilela 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, Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Family Harilela can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Family Harilela can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Family Harilela 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Family Harilela can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Family Harilela in the consumer business. Now Family Harilela can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Family Harilela 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.
Threats Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong are -
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 Family Harilela.
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. Family Harilela needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Family Harilela business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Family Harilela is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Family Harilela has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Family Harilela needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Family Harilela with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Family Harilela
– 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 Family Harilela.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Family Harilela 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 field.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Family Harilela 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. Family Harilela can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Family Harilela 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Family Harilela 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Family Harilela in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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 Harilela Enterprises: An Indian Family Business in Hong Kong 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 Family Harilela needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.