Case Study Description of Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?
In October 2014, the owner of Rajwant Engineering Pvt. Ltd., a small-scale manufacturing business in Jamshedpur, India, needed to make some key strategic decisions. The immediate challenge was that the company had recently been asked for a bribe by the procurement manager of its most important client. The business owner was a highly ethical entrepreneur, so he was tempted to discontinue his relationship with the client on ethical grounds. However, the business was facing major financial difficulties, and the owner felt great responsibility toward his employees. The business owner wondered if he should instead compromise on his values in order to save his business from bankruptcy. Atul Arun Pathak is affiliated with XLRI-Xavier School of Management. Kshamta Sharma is affiliated with XLRI-Xavier School of Management.
Swot Analysis of "Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?" written by Atul Arun Pathak, Kshamta Sharma includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rajwant Owner facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Manufacturing and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rajwant Owner, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rajwant Owner
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 Rajwant Owner
Strengths Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rajwant Owner in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rajwant Owner digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rajwant Owner 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Rajwant Owner is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Rajwant Owner in the sector have low bargaining power. Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rajwant Owner to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rajwant Owner in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Rajwant Owner has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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.
Learning organization
- Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Owner is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rajwant Owner to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rajwant Owner to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Rajwant Owner is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rajwant Owner is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Rajwant Owner products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Rajwant Owner needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rajwant Owner 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. Rajwant Owner 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rajwant Owner, firm in the HBR case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Owner 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rajwant Owner 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Rajwant Owner is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Rajwant Owner needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rajwant Owner to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?, in the dynamic environment Rajwant Owner has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Rajwant Owner has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?, it seems that the employees of Rajwant Owner 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rajwant Owner is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rajwant Owner 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.
Opportunities Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? | 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? are -
Buying journey improvements
– Rajwant Owner can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rajwant Owner can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Rajwant Owner 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Rajwant Owner has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rajwant Owner to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? case study. Rajwant Owner can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Rajwant Owner in the consumer business. Now Rajwant Owner can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Owner to increase its market reach. Rajwant Owner 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rajwant Owner 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rajwant Owner to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Rajwant Owner 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, Rajwant Owner can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rajwant Owner operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rajwant Owner is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rajwant Owner 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? are -
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 Rajwant Owner business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Rajwant Owner 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.
Environmental challenges
– Rajwant Owner 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. Rajwant Owner can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rajwant Owner with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rajwant Owner has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rajwant Owner 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.
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. Rajwant Owner needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rajwant Owner 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
– Rajwant Owner 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rajwant Owner is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rajwant Owner 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values?, Rajwant Owner 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 .
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.
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 Rajwant Owner.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Engineering: Survival or Ethical Values? 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 Rajwant Owner needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.