Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact
Sound financial management is the most important element in the viability of any business undertaking, and capital investment decisions are the foundation stone of this process. A company can pursue either an internal, organic approach to its financing options or an external, inorganic approach that uses borrowed funds to make acquisitions it hopes will increase its business. This is the route taken by Bharti Airtel Limited, India's leading telecommunications giant. Beginning in 2010, it has borrowed heavily on the international market to invest in acquisitions of a 3G licence in India, in Zain Africa and in the broadband wireless access branch of Qualcomm Inc. However, due to many causes - including the effects of the global recession on the industry; the highly competitive Indian telecommunications market; restructuring and disorganization in the firm's top management; and lack of innovation in offering and delivering new services in India - the company has experienced not the growth it expected from its expansion strategy, but a steady decline in profits. How can the management turn this situation around and regain the company's position as a leader in the telecommunications market in India and globally? Author Sandeep Goel is affiliated with the Management Development Institute.
Swot Analysis of "Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact" written by Sandeep Goel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Borrowed Airtel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Borrowed Airtel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Borrowed Airtel 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Borrowed Airtel
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Borrowed Airtel
Strengths Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Borrowed Airtel in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Borrowed Airtel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Borrowed Airtel 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)
– Borrowed Airtel 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Borrowed Airtel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Borrowed Airtel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Borrowed Airtel 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.
Training and development
– Borrowed Airtel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Borrowed Airtel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Borrowed Airtel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Borrowed Airtel 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 Sandeep Goel 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Borrowed Airtel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Borrowed Airtel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Borrowed Airtel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Borrowed Airtel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Borrowed Airtel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Borrowed Airtel supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Borrowed Airtel vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Borrowed Airtel 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. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Borrowed Airtel 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Borrowed Airtel 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Borrowed Airtel 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Borrowed Airtel 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Borrowed Airtel 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact, is just above the industry average. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Borrowed Airtel 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 - Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Borrowed Airtel, firm in the HBR case study Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact | 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Borrowed Airtel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Borrowed Airtel 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.
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. Borrowed Airtel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Borrowed Airtel can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Borrowed Airtel 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 Borrowed Airtel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Borrowed Airtel 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 Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Borrowed Airtel 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. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Borrowed Airtel 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Borrowed Airtel 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Borrowed Airtel in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Borrowed Airtel to increase its market reach. Borrowed Airtel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Borrowed Airtel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Borrowed Airtel 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Borrowed Airtel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact are -
Environmental challenges
– Borrowed Airtel 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. Borrowed Airtel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Borrowed Airtel 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Borrowed Airtel 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact .
Increasing wage structure of Borrowed Airtel
– 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 Borrowed Airtel.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Borrowed Airtel is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Borrowed Airtel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Borrowed Airtel needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Borrowed Airtel 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Borrowed Airtel 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 Borrowed Airtel 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.
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 Borrowed Airtel.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Borrowed Airtel 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact, Borrowed Airtel may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Capital Budgeting Management of Bharti Airtel - The Profitability Impact 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 Borrowed Airtel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.