Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer
In 1992, for the first time in India, Titan Industries Ltd., headquartered in Bangalore, India, introduced a watch brand exclusively for women - the Titan Raga. Launched to appeal to sophisticated women, it was embellished with striking symbolism from Indian culture. Its first targeted customers were progressive homemakers and those who were trying to balance work and family life but who wanted to embellish their traditional or Western attire with a beautiful, sensual timepiece. The watches were often given as gifts during festivals or occasions such as birthdays. However, the customer profile changed to the young career professional with disposable income, who often considered the watches to be too much like jewellery and affected by design flaws such as a difficult to read face and finicky clasp. By 2010, the marketing team realized that it had to revisit its branding strategy to meet this challenge and its global competitors. Should they relaunch Titan Raga as a stand-alone brand with a new brand ambassador who will appeal to this new demographic? Shekar Prabhakar is affiliated with Prin.L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research. Madhavi Lokhande is affiliated with Prin.L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research. Prasad A. Naik is affiliated with University of California Davis.
Authors :: Shekar Prabhakar, Madhavi Lokhande, Prasad A. Naik
Swot Analysis of "Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer" written by Shekar Prabhakar, Madhavi Lokhande, Prasad A. Naik includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Titan Raga facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing,
increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Titan Raga, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Titan Raga
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 Titan Raga
Strengths Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Titan Raga in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Titan Raga is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Titan Raga in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Titan Raga does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Titan Raga 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Titan Raga has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Titan Raga to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Titan Raga is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Titan Raga is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Titan Raga 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Titan Raga has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer HBR case study mentions - Titan Raga 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, is just above the industry average. Titan Raga 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Titan Raga is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Titan Raga 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. Titan Raga 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Shekar Prabhakar, Madhavi Lokhande, Prasad A. Naik suggests that, Titan Raga 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
– Titan Raga 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, in the dynamic environment Titan Raga has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Titan Raga has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
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 Titan Raga to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Titan Raga can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Titan Raga 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Titan Raga has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Titan Raga to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Titan Raga 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.
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 Titan Raga in the consumer business. Now Titan Raga can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Titan Raga to increase its market reach. Titan Raga 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, Titan Raga is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Titan Raga 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Titan Raga 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Titan Raga can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Titan Raga 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.
Threats Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Titan Raga 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Titan Raga has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Titan Raga 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Titan Raga 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.
Increasing wage structure of Titan Raga
– 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 Titan Raga.
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 Titan Raga.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Titan Raga 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Titan Raga with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, Titan Raga 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.
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. Titan Raga needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Titan Raga in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
