Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise
To grow Phirbol, a telecom retail franchise chain in Delhi, India's underdeveloped markets, its founders were exploring ways to offer more value to the franchisees. In mid-2009, the Phirbol franchise was comprised of some 150 franchisees that had converted their small "mom-and-pop" shops into Phirbol-branded stores. Entrepreneurs Meghna Modi and Glenn Wong had launched the franchise in 2007, two years after they founded Go Mobile, a company-owned mobile retail chain. While Go Mobile stores were located in higher-income neighborhoods and focused primarily on selling phone handsets, Phirbol stores could be found in less-developed areas-most were not accessible by car-and focused on selling service connections (SIM cards) and recharges. Phirbol added value to the franchisees by streamlining some of their business processes, offering them a consistent product supply, sales support and incentives, and providing them with education on the constantly changing dynamics of India's mobile market. But as the founders looked towards expanding, they knew they would have to enhance their offering to franchisees in order to recruit some of the more established "mom-and-pop" stores they planned to target as franchisees. In addition, they would need to adjust their business model such that more responsibility was delegated to franchisees and staff. Looking forward, what should Modi and Wong do to ensure Phirbol's success?
Swot Analysis of "Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise" written by Rajiv Lal, Natalie Kindred includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Phirbol Franchisees facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management, Growth strategy, Influence and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Phirbol Franchisees, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Phirbol Franchisees 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Phirbol Franchisees
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Phirbol Franchisees
Strengths Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Phirbol Franchisees in Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Phirbol Franchisees has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Organizational Resilience of Phirbol Franchisees
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Phirbol Franchisees does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Phirbol Franchisees 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 Phirbol Franchisees in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Phirbol Franchisees has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Phirbol Franchisees 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.
High brand equity
– Phirbol Franchisees has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Phirbol Franchisees to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Phirbol Franchisees 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Phirbol Franchisees in the sector have low bargaining power. Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Phirbol Franchisees to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Phirbol Franchisees in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Phirbol Franchisees is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Phirbol Franchisees digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Phirbol Franchisees to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Phirbol Franchisees to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise, it seems that the employees of Phirbol Franchisees 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Phirbol Franchisees 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Phirbol Franchisees 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Phirbol Franchisees, firm in the HBR case study Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Phirbol Franchisees is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rajiv Lal, Natalie Kindred suggests that, Phirbol Franchisees is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Phirbol Franchisees is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Phirbol Franchisees needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Phirbol Franchisees to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Phirbol Franchisees products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Phirbol Franchisees needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Phirbol Franchisees has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise HBR case study mentions - Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Opportunities Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise | 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Phirbol Franchisees 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, Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Phirbol Franchisees in the consumer business. Now Phirbol Franchisees can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Phirbol Franchisees can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Phirbol Franchisees to increase its market reach. Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Phirbol Franchisees is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Phirbol Franchisees can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Phirbol Franchisees operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Phirbol Franchisees 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.
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 Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Phirbol Franchisees 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 Phirbol Franchisees to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Phirbol Franchisees has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Phirbol Franchisees to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise case study. Phirbol Franchisees can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Phirbol Franchisees can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
Threats Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Phirbol Franchisees is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Phirbol Franchisees 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise .
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Phirbol Franchisees can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Increasing wage structure of Phirbol Franchisees
– 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 Phirbol Franchisees.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Phirbol Franchisees has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Phirbol Franchisees needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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 Phirbol Franchisees with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Phirbol Franchisees.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Phirbol Franchisees 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.
Environmental challenges
– Phirbol Franchisees 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. Phirbol Franchisees can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise 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 Phirbol Franchisees needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.