Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012)
Namal College, Mainwali - Pakistan, was the brainchild and dream project of Imran Khan-world-renowned cricketer, philanthropist, and one of the most popular politicians of Pakistan. Namal's case opens at a critical juncture in the fall of 2012 when the board meets to discuss the organization's impending challenges, vision, and future. On one hand, Namal's leadership saw commendable achievements in a very short span of time while on the other there were major logistic, financial, infrastructural, and human resource related challenges. In the midst of this, the VC began to openly disagree with Mr. Khan and the board's dreams and ambitions for Namal. This conflict in the perspective of the college's leadership began to instill despair and confusion in the minds of the faculty as well as the students. The question that many were asking was "Where is Namal heading towards?" Namal's vision that had served as the bindA?ing force throughout its history was now being questioned by some. There were rumors that the VC and some of the faculty members were thinking of resigning from the college. Mr. Dawood, the chairperson, felt that it had become extremely important to rethink and clarify Namal's vision for the next 10-20 years. He believed that a well-articulated shorter term vision would enable the Board to address the existing challenges and take the institution forward.
Swot Analysis of "Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012)" written by Arif Butt, Shezeen Hemani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Namal Namal's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Namal Namal's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Namal Namal's 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Namal Namal's
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 Namal Namal's
Strengths Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Namal Namal's in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Namal Namal's 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Namal Namal's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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
– Namal Namal's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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.
Analytics focus
– Namal Namal's 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 Arif Butt, Shezeen Hemani 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Namal Namal's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Namal Namal's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Namal Namal's 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Namal Namal's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Namal Namal's 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Namal Namal's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Namal Namal's 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Namal Namal's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Namal Namal's 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 Namal Namal's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal Namal's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012), in the dynamic environment Namal Namal's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Namal Namal's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Namal Namal's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Namal Namal's 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal Namal's 's lucrative customers.
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 Namal Namal's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Namal Namal's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) HBR case study mentions - Namal Namal's 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Namal Namal's 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. Namal Namal's 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Namal Namal's 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012), it seems that the employees of Namal Namal's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Namal Namal's 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.
Opportunities Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) | 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Namal Namal's 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, Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Namal Namal's can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Namal Namal's 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 Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Namal Namal's 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. Namal Namal's 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.
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. Namal Namal's 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 Namal Namal's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Namal Namal's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Namal Namal's to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Namal Namal's 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 Namal Namal's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Namal Namal's to increase its market reach. Namal Namal's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Namal Namal's 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.
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 Namal Namal's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Namal Namal's has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Namal Namal's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) are -
Increasing wage structure of Namal Namal's
– 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 Namal Namal's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Namal Namal's 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012), Namal Namal's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Namal Namal's 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.
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 Namal Namal's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Namal Namal's 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.
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. Namal Namal's 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 Namal Namal's.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Namal Namal's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Namal Namal's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Namal Namal's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal College: The First Ten Years (2002-2012) 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 Namal Namal's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.