Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India
Basic telecommunication services in India, provided by the government as a natural monopoly service, have over the years seen drastic changes in terms of competition, service offerings and technology used. This case highlights the technology, marketing and financial strategies adopted by Bharti Airtel, a leading private telecom service provider in India. While Bharti succeeded in carving a niche for itself in its fixed line service offering, the case brings out Bharti's need for agility as it confronts the competition of the cash-rich government operators and the strong emergence of mobile services and related technologies. The case can also be used to study India's evolving telecom regulations and the effects of migrating from a monopoly to a perfectly competitive basic telecom service in an emerging market. Government Monopoly, Business Strategy, Telecom Services, Fixed Line Services, Telecom regulations, Market penetration
Swot Analysis of "Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India" written by Varadharajan Sridhar, Amit Malik includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Telecom Bharti facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Telecom Bharti, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Telecom Bharti 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Telecom Bharti
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 Telecom Bharti
Strengths Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Telecom Bharti in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Telecom Bharti has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Telecom Bharti in the sector have low bargaining power. Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Telecom Bharti to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Telecom Bharti are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Telecom Bharti has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Telecom Bharti to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Telecom Bharti is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Telecom Bharti
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Telecom Bharti does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Telecom Bharti has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Telecom Bharti 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Telecom Bharti is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Telecom Bharti 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Telecom Bharti in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Telecom Bharti 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 Telecom Bharti is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India are -
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 Telecom Bharti supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Telecom Bharti vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Telecom Bharti has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India 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 Telecom Bharti 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India, is just above the industry average. Telecom Bharti needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India, it seems that the employees of Telecom Bharti 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India, in the dynamic environment Telecom Bharti has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Telecom Bharti has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Telecom Bharti products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Telecom Bharti needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Varadharajan Sridhar, Amit Malik suggests that, Telecom Bharti 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Telecom Bharti, firm in the HBR case study Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Telecom Bharti 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Telecom Bharti 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. Telecom Bharti 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Telecom Bharti can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Telecom Bharti can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Telecom Bharti in the consumer business. Now Telecom Bharti can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Telecom Bharti 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Telecom Bharti 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Telecom Bharti to increase its market reach. Telecom Bharti 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Telecom Bharti 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, Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Telecom Bharti is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Telecom Bharti can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Telecom Bharti can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Telecom Bharti operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Telecom Bharti can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Telecom Bharti 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 Telecom Bharti to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Telecom Bharti 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. Telecom Bharti 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.
Threats Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India are -
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. Telecom Bharti needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Telecom Bharti is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Telecom Bharti in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Telecom Bharti 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service in India .
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 Telecom Bharti.
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 Telecom Bharti business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Telecom Bharti 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. Telecom Bharti 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Telecom Bharti 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.
Environmental challenges
– Telecom Bharti 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. Telecom Bharti can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Telecom Bharti with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Telecom Bharti 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Turning Copper into Gold: Bharti Airtel's Fixed-Line Service 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 Telecom Bharti needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.