Infosys Limited was India's second largest exporter of IT services with annual revenues of $7 billion and a market capitalization of nearly $26 billion in 2012. The company, headquartered in Bangalore, India, had built its reputation as the Indian IT bellwether whose credo was to "under-promise and over-deliver." Throughout its 31-year history, Infosys and its iconic co-founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, were admired and respected for delivering excellence while conducting business in a legal, transparent, and ethical manner. It was one of the few software companies that recognized the value of a strong brand in the business-to-business (B2B) market and chose to develop its brand not through expensive advertising but by building core values, client trust, and leveraging Murthy's personal integrity and principles. In 2011, the company introduced its new brand positioning, Infosys 3.0. A key component of the new brand positioning was the Products, Platforms, and Services (PPS) business, headed by Sanjay Purohit. This case focuses on the company's efforts to makeover its brand in the U.S. market amidst several challenges.
Swot Analysis of "Building Brand Infosys" written by Rohit Deshpande, Vidhya Muthuram includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Infosys Brand facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building Brand Infosys case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building Brand Infosys casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building Brand Infosys
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building Brand Infosys case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Infosys Brand, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Infosys Brand 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 Building Brand Infosys can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building Brand Infosys case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Infosys Brand
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 Infosys Brand
Strengths Building Brand Infosys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Infosys Brand in Building Brand Infosys Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Infosys Brand in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Infosys Brand has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Infosys Brand 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Infosys Brand 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Infosys Brand in the sector have low bargaining power. Building Brand Infosys has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Infosys Brand to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Infosys Brand
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Infosys Brand does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Infosys Brand is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Infosys Brand 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 Rohit Deshpande, Vidhya Muthuram 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Infosys Brand 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Infosys Brand is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Building Brand Infosys 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
– Infosys Brand is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building Brand Infosys Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Infosys Brand has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Infosys Brand to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Building Brand Infosys firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Infosys Brand to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Infosys Brand to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Building Brand Infosys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building Brand Infosys are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Infosys Brand is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Infosys Brand needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Infosys Brand to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Building Brand Infosys, in the dynamic environment Infosys Brand has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Infosys Brand has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Building Brand Infosys, it seems that the employees of Infosys Brand 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Building Brand Infosys 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 Infosys Brand 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Building Brand Infosys HBR case study mentions - Infosys Brand 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Infosys Brand 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 - Building Brand Infosys should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Building Brand Infosys 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 Infosys Brand has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Building Brand Infosys, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Infosys Brand 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Building Brand Infosys 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 Building Brand Infosys can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Infosys Brand is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Infosys Brand 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.
Opportunities Building Brand Infosys | 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Infosys Brand 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.
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. Infosys Brand can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Infosys Brand to increase its market reach. Infosys Brand 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Infosys Brand 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Infosys Brand can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Infosys Brand 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. Infosys Brand 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Infosys Brand can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building Brand Infosys 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Infosys Brand can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Infosys Brand operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Infosys Brand 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Infosys Brand has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Infosys Brand to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Building Brand Infosys case study. Infosys Brand can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Infosys Brand is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Building Brand Infosys 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Infosys Brand 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, Building Brand Infosys, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Infosys Brand in the consumer business. Now Infosys Brand can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Building Brand Infosys External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building Brand Infosys are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Infosys Brand 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. Infosys Brand needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Infosys Brand 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. Infosys Brand can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Infosys Brand 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Infosys Brand has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Infosys Brand 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.
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 Infosys Brand in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Infosys Brand 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.
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 Infosys Brand.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Infosys Brand 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 Building Brand Infosys .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Infosys Brand 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Infosys Brand with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building Brand Infosys 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Building Brand Infosys 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 Infosys Brand needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
