SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise
In February 2016, a young intern was waiting to speak with the founder and chief executive officer of Surbhi Gramodyog Vikas Sansthan (SGVS), a producer and supplier of hand-made herbal cosmetic products. The founder was speaking on the phone with a potential reseller and turning down a new order due to the company being at full capacity. It was the third such request that he had declined in the past week. The young intern was puzzled. SGVS was located in Kashipur, a small town in the state of Uttarakhand in India. With a minimal Internet presence and marketing efforts, it had gained loyal customers in India and across the world, from the United States to Australia. However, SGVS was not willing to increase production capacity and expand the business, thereby forgoing a potential increase in profits. Was the company's reluctance to scale up the business sustainable over the long run? Maitrayee Mukerji is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Kashipur. Manab Chakraborty is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Kashipur.
Swot Analysis of "SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise" written by Maitrayee Mukerji, Manab Chakraborty includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sgvs Kashipur facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sgvs Kashipur, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sgvs Kashipur 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sgvs Kashipur
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 Sgvs Kashipur
Strengths SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sgvs Kashipur in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sgvs Kashipur digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sgvs Kashipur 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
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Sgvs Kashipur is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Sgvs Kashipur has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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)
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 Sgvs Kashipur in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sgvs Kashipur in the sector have low bargaining power. SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sgvs Kashipur to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Sgvs Kashipur is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 Maitrayee Mukerji, Manab Chakraborty 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.
Organizational Resilience of Sgvs Kashipur
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sgvs Kashipur does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise are -
Need for greater diversity
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Maitrayee Mukerji, Manab Chakraborty suggests that, Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sgvs Kashipur 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 - SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sgvs Kashipur 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, Sgvs Kashipur 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sgvs Kashipur is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sgvs Kashipur is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Sgvs Kashipur needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sgvs Kashipur to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sgvs Kashipur 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 Sgvs Kashipur 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise, is just above the industry average. Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Opportunities SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise | 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sgvs Kashipur is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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.
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. Sgvs Kashipur can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Sgvs Kashipur 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. Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sgvs Kashipur to increase its market reach. Sgvs Kashipur will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sgvs Kashipur can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sgvs Kashipur can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sgvs Kashipur 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 Sgvs Kashipur to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sgvs Kashipur 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sgvs Kashipur to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sgvs Kashipur 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.
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. Sgvs Kashipur can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Sgvs Kashipur will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sgvs Kashipur 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. Sgvs Kashipur needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Sgvs Kashipur.
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. Sgvs Kashipur 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 Sgvs Kashipur 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sgvs Kashipur 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sgvs Kashipur 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise, Sgvs Kashipur 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Sgvs Kashipur 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. Sgvs Kashipur can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Sgvs Kashipur 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 SGVS: Marketing and Strategy in a Small B2B Enterprise 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 Sgvs Kashipur needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.