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, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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 -
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.
Analytics focus
– Imiaid Northeast 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 Mokhalles Mehdi, Syed Yassir Rizvee 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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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 Imiaid Northeast 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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Imiaid Northeast to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Imiaid Northeast to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Imiaid Northeast 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 Imiaid Northeast in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Imiaid Northeast has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Imiaid Northeast 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
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.
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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Imiaid Northeast 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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study imiAid: Challenges in Scaling Up Business Operations, is just above the industry average. Imiaid Northeast 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Imiaid Northeast has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Imiaid Northeast can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Imiaid Northeast operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Imiaid Northeast 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.
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.
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.
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 Imiaid Northeast 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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Imiaid Northeast 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 Imiaid Northeast to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Imiaid Northeast in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 -
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.
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.
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 .
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 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Imiaid Northeast 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
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 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.
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.
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. Imiaid Northeast can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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.