Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation
Bajaj Auto Limited (BAL), the world's largest manufacturer of three-wheel vehicles, was about to launch India's first quadricycle, built indigenously for applications that were uniquely useful for urban transportation in developing markets such as India. The four-wheel vehicle was being launched as a completely new category in the Indian market by BAL's Commercial Vehicle division. The dilemma facing the BAL team was whether to brand the new product as an extension of the company's three-wheel market leader or as an independent brand. Furthermore, what degree of endorsement would be required from the master brand, "Bajaj"? The potential success of this vehicle would have a profound effect on BAL's ability to develop its brand image and carve out a leadership position in a new category of commercial vehicles in India. Srividya Raghavan is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad. Sourabh Bhattacharya is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad.
Swot Analysis of "Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation" written by Srividya Raghavan, Saurabh Bhattacharya includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bajaj Wheel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Disruptive innovation, Manufacturing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bajaj Wheel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bajaj Wheel 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bajaj Wheel
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 Bajaj Wheel
Strengths Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bajaj Wheel in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Bajaj Wheel 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 Bajaj Wheel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bajaj Wheel 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bajaj Wheel 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.
Learning organization
- Bajaj Wheel 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 Bajaj Wheel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bajaj Wheel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bajaj Wheel 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bajaj Wheel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bajaj Wheel 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bajaj Wheel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bajaj Wheel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bajaj Wheel 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bajaj Wheel in the sector have low bargaining power. Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bajaj Wheel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bajaj Wheel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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.
Weaknesses Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Srividya Raghavan, Saurabh Bhattacharya suggests that, Bajaj Wheel 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bajaj Wheel is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation, it seems that the employees of Bajaj Wheel 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation, is just above the industry average. Bajaj Wheel 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation HBR case study mentions - Bajaj Wheel 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 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 Bajaj Wheel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bajaj Wheel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bajaj Wheel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bajaj Wheel 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj Wheel 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bajaj Wheel 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.
Opportunities Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation | 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bajaj Wheel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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
– Bajaj Wheel 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bajaj Wheel 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bajaj Wheel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Bajaj Wheel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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.
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 Bajaj Wheel 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.
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. Bajaj Wheel 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. Bajaj Wheel 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.
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 Bajaj Wheel in the consumer business. Now Bajaj Wheel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bajaj Wheel to increase its market reach. Bajaj Wheel 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bajaj Wheel 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bajaj Wheel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bajaj Wheel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bajaj Wheel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bajaj Wheel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bajaj Wheel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation are -
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 Bajaj Wheel in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 Bajaj Wheel 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. Bajaj Wheel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Bajaj Wheel 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. Bajaj Wheel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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 Bajaj Wheel.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bajaj Wheel 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bajaj Wheel 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. Bajaj Wheel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bajaj Wheel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bajaj Wheel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bajaj Wheel 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bajaj Wheel 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj RE60: The Branding Challenge of Disruptive Innovation 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 Bajaj Wheel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.