Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth
The target market of Citibank cards in India was aligned with the profitability objectives of the company. However, if it continued with its current strategy, it faced the risk of being a niche player in a growing market and losing the profit potential from other segments and geographies in the near future. The CEO needed to reconsider the target market and finalize a marketing strategy in the face of the changing composition of the marketplace, the competition and the commercial imperatives of the credit card business. This was a critical decision that would have a long-term impact on resource deployment and budgeting.
Swot Analysis of "Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth" written by Jaydeep Mukherjee, Sanket Kawde includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Citibank Cards facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Citibank Cards, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Citibank Cards 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Citibank Cards
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 Citibank Cards
Strengths Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Citibank Cards in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Citibank Cards is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Citibank Cards in the sector have low bargaining power. Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Citibank Cards to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Citibank Cards is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Citibank Cards digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Citibank Cards 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Citibank Cards has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Citibank Cards 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Citibank Cards in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Citibank Cards to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Citibank Cards to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Citibank Cards has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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.
Learning organization
- Citibank Cards 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 Citibank Cards is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Citibank Cards 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 Jaydeep Mukherjee, Sanket Kawde 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 Citibank Cards
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Citibank Cards does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Citibank Cards 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Citibank Cards products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Citibank Cards needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth HBR case study mentions - Citibank Cards 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank Cards 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Citibank Cards is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Citibank Cards needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Citibank Cards to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth, is just above the industry average. Citibank Cards 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Citibank Cards, firm in the HBR case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Citibank Cards 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Citibank Cards is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Citibank Cards 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 - Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Citibank Cards 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.
Opportunities Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth | 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth are -
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. Citibank Cards can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Citibank Cards can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Citibank Cards 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Citibank Cards has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Citibank Cards to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth case study. Citibank Cards can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Citibank Cards 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Citibank Cards 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, Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Citibank Cards can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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.
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 Citibank Cards in the consumer business. Now Citibank Cards can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Citibank Cards 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Citibank Cards to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Citibank Cards 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 Citibank Cards 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.
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. Citibank Cards 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. Citibank Cards 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Citibank Cards is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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.
Threats Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Citibank Cards has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Citibank Cards 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Citibank Cards 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.
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 Citibank Cards in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Citibank Cards 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth .
Increasing wage structure of Citibank Cards
– 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 Citibank Cards.
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 Citibank Cards business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Citibank Cards is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Citibank Cards 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Citibank Cards 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth, Citibank Cards may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Citibank Cards 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 Citibank Cards.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank India Credit Cards: Strategy for Profitable Growth 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 Citibank Cards needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
