Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer
In 1992, for the first time in India, Titan Industries Ltd., headquartered in Bangalore, India, introduced a watch brand exclusively for women - the Titan Raga. Launched to appeal to sophisticated women, it was embellished with striking symbolism from Indian culture. Its first targeted customers were progressive homemakers and those who were trying to balance work and family life but who wanted to embellish their traditional or Western attire with a beautiful, sensual timepiece. The watches were often given as gifts during festivals or occasions such as birthdays. However, the customer profile changed to the young career professional with disposable income, who often considered the watches to be too much like jewellery and affected by design flaws such as a difficult to read face and finicky clasp. By 2010, the marketing team realized that it had to revisit its branding strategy to meet this challenge and its global competitors. Should they relaunch Titan Raga as a stand-alone brand with a new brand ambassador who will appeal to this new demographic? Shekar Prabhakar is affiliated with Prin.L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research. Madhavi Lokhande is affiliated with Prin.L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research. Prasad A. Naik is affiliated with University of California Davis.
Authors :: Shekar Prabhakar, Madhavi Lokhande, Prasad A. Naik
Swot Analysis of "Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer" written by Shekar Prabhakar, Madhavi Lokhande, Prasad A. Naik includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Titan Raga facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Titan Raga, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Titan Raga
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 Titan Raga
Strengths Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Titan Raga in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Titan Raga in the sector have low bargaining power. Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Titan Raga to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Titan Raga
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Titan Raga does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Titan Raga 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.
High brand equity
– Titan Raga has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Titan Raga to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Titan Raga digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Titan Raga 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Titan Raga is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Titan Raga has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Titan Raga 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Titan Raga is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Titan Raga is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Titan Raga needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Titan Raga to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Titan Raga, firm in the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer HBR case study mentions - Titan Raga takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, in the dynamic environment Titan Raga has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Titan Raga has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Titan Raga is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Titan Raga is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, is just above the industry average. Titan Raga 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Titan Raga products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Titan Raga needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Titan Raga needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer | 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Titan Raga is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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.
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 Titan Raga 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Titan Raga has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Titan Raga to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer case study. Titan Raga can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga to increase its market reach. Titan Raga 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Titan Raga to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Manufacturing automation
– Titan Raga 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Titan Raga can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Titan Raga 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.
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. Titan Raga can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Titan Raga can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Titan Raga 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Titan Raga 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Titan Raga 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Titan Raga is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer, Titan Raga 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 .
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.
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. Titan Raga 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 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. Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 Titan Raga.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Titan Raga 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Titan Raga has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Titan Raga 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga: Evolving a Watch Brand for the Changing Consumer 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 Titan Raga needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.