Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India
This case is accompanied by a Video Short that can be shown in class or included in a digital coursepack. Instructors should consider the timing of making the video available to students, as it may reveal key case details.In 2005, the Parliament of India enacted the Right to Information Act, a law giving citizens of India access to central, state, and local government records. Under the law's provisions, citizens have the ability to request information regarding official acts from any public authority. Officials who refuse or delay requests are held responsible through fines or disciplinary action. Many individuals and organizations were involved in the lengthy and difficult process of getting this legislation enacted. This case focuses on one of these individuals, Aruna Roy, regarded by many observers as having played a key role in empowering citizens to exercise the democratic right to make their government transparent and accountable. It traces her background and the challenges she faced in developing her commitment to improving the lives of the poor and socially marginalized. HKS Case Number 1929.0
Tags :: Government, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Risk management, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India" written by Pratibha Krishnamurthy, Kenneth Winston, Patricia Garcia-Rios includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aruna Citizens facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Risk management, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aruna Citizens, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aruna Citizens
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 Aruna Citizens
Strengths Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aruna Citizens in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Aruna Citizens in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Citizens in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Aruna Citizens is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Citizens 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.
Analytics focus
– Aruna Citizens 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 Pratibha Krishnamurthy, Kenneth Winston, Patricia Garcia-Rios 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Aruna Citizens has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aruna Citizens 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.
Training and development
– Aruna Citizens has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Aruna Citizens to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Aruna Citizens to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Aruna Citizens in the sector have low bargaining power. Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aruna Citizens to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Citizens is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Aruna Citizens 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Aruna Citizens 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aruna Citizens is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India, in the dynamic environment Aruna Citizens has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aruna Citizens 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, Aruna Citizens 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India HBR case study mentions - Aruna Citizens 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Aruna Citizens 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aruna Citizens, firm in the HBR case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Aruna Citizens 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. Aruna Citizens 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.
Opportunities Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India | 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aruna Citizens is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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.
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. Aruna Citizens 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. Aruna Citizens 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.
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 Aruna Citizens 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.
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. Aruna Citizens can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Citizens 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Aruna Citizens 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Aruna Citizens 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 Aruna Citizens to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Aruna Citizens can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Buying journey improvements
– Aruna Citizens can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Aruna Citizens can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Aruna Citizens operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Aruna Citizens has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aruna Citizens to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India case study. Aruna Citizens can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Aruna Citizens can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India are -
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. Aruna Citizens 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Aruna Citizens has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aruna Citizens 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.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Aruna Citizens in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Aruna Citizens needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Aruna Citizens 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aruna Citizens 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India, Aruna Citizens 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Aruna Citizens
– 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 Aruna Citizens.
Regulatory challenges
– Aruna Citizens 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aruna Citizens is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Aruna Citizens.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Roy and the Birth of a People's Movement in India 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 Aruna Citizens needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.