imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations
In August 2015, imiAID, an Indian start-up that provided portable first aid kits for emergencies, was struggling to reduce its production costs and increase awareness about its product. The company began operations in Guwahati, Assam, and subsequently expanded the business to other states in Northeast India. Key target segments for imiAID included educational institutions and health-care service providers. Customers were somewhat aware of the product; however, imiAID wanted to develop a strategy that addressed its two goals of reducing production costs and increasing awareness about the imiAID Pocket First Aid Kit. Management had to decide how to best guide the company's growth. Would imiAID be able to successfully operate in the emerging market of Northeast India in the long term? Mokhalles Mehdi is affiliated with Kaziranga University.
Swot Analysis of "imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations" written by Mokhalles Mehdi, Syed Yassir Rizvee includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Imiaid Northeast facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations casestudy better are - – technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Imiaid Northeast, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Imiaid Northeast 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Imiaid Northeast
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 Imiaid Northeast
Strengths imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Imiaid Northeast in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Imiaid Northeast is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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.
Learning organization
- Imiaid Northeast 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 Imiaid Northeast is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Imiaid Northeast is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Imiaid Northeast in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Imiaid Northeast has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Imiaid Northeast 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Imiaid Northeast 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Imiaid Northeast 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Imiaid Northeast
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Imiaid Northeast does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Imiaid Northeast digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Imiaid Northeast 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Imiaid Northeast in the sector have low bargaining power. imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Imiaid Northeast to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Imiaid Northeast 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Imiaid Northeast has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Imiaid Northeast to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Imiaid Northeast 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Imiaid Northeast is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Imiaid Northeast needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Imiaid Northeast to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Imiaid Northeast 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 - imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations, in the dynamic environment Imiaid Northeast has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Imiaid Northeast has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations HBR case study mentions - Imiaid Northeast 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Imiaid Northeast, firm in the HBR case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Imiaid Northeast products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Imiaid Northeast needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations, it seems that the employees of Imiaid Northeast 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mokhalles Mehdi, Syed Yassir Rizvee suggests that, Imiaid Northeast 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Imiaid Northeast is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations | 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations are -
Buying journey improvements
– Imiaid Northeast can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Imiaid Northeast to increase its market reach. Imiaid Northeast 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.
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. Imiaid Northeast can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Imiaid Northeast 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Imiaid Northeast has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Imiaid Northeast to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations case study. Imiaid Northeast can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
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. Imiaid Northeast can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Imiaid Northeast is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Imiaid Northeast can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Imiaid Northeast 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. Imiaid Northeast 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Imiaid Northeast 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations, Imiaid Northeast may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Imiaid Northeast 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.
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 Imiaid Northeast in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Imiaid Northeast 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. Imiaid Northeast can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Imiaid Northeast is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Imiaid Northeast needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Imiaid Northeast
– 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 Imiaid Northeast.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Imiaid Northeast has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Imiaid Northeast 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Imiaid Northeast 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 Imiaid Northeast 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 Imiaid Northeast needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.