Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market
This case examines the business strategies available to an Indian company, Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd. (IPCSL). It has made substantial investments in upgrading its existing cold storage to differentiate itself from the competition based on the premise that by providing superior product quality, it could charge a premium for its value added cold storage service. However, competitors lowered their rates in an attempt to capture even more customers, and IPCSL was concerned about the long-term viability of the business. It must decide on a course of action, taking into consideration the constraints of growing, transporting, storing and selling fruit in India; the asymmetry in price information available to growers and commission agents in the market, coupled with the old-fashioned way of doing business through open and closed auctions; and the costs and benefits of vertical integration between grower and IPCSL.
Swot Analysis of "Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market" written by S. P. Raj, Atanu Adhikari includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ipcsl Cold facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Pricing, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ipcsl Cold, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ipcsl Cold 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ipcsl Cold
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 Ipcsl Cold
Strengths Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ipcsl Cold in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Ipcsl Cold is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ipcsl Cold 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ipcsl Cold 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Ipcsl Cold has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ipcsl Cold 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ipcsl Cold is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Ipcsl Cold 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 S. P. Raj, Atanu Adhikari 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 Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ipcsl Cold digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ipcsl Cold 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 lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Ipcsl Cold 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 Ipcsl Cold in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Ipcsl Cold 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 Ipcsl Cold is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Ipcsl Cold 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Ipcsl Cold has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ipcsl Cold has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ipcsl Cold has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market, in the dynamic environment Ipcsl Cold has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ipcsl Cold has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ipcsl Cold products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ipcsl Cold needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market, is just above the industry average. Ipcsl Cold 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market, 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, S. P. Raj, Atanu Adhikari suggests that, Ipcsl Cold is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ipcsl Cold is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market, it seems that the employees of Ipcsl Cold 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Ipcsl Cold 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.
Opportunities Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market | 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ipcsl Cold has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ipcsl Cold to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market case study. Ipcsl Cold can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ipcsl Cold can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ipcsl Cold operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ipcsl Cold 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ipcsl Cold to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ipcsl Cold can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ipcsl Cold 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.
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 Ipcsl Cold 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.
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 Ipcsl Cold in the consumer business. Now Ipcsl Cold can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Ipcsl Cold 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. Ipcsl Cold 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.
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. Ipcsl Cold can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ipcsl Cold to increase its market reach. Ipcsl Cold 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ipcsl Cold is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ipcsl Cold can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Ipcsl Cold 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.
Threats Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market are -
Increasing wage structure of Ipcsl Cold
– 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 Ipcsl Cold.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market, Ipcsl Cold 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 .
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 Ipcsl Cold in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Ipcsl Cold 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ipcsl Cold 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.
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 Ipcsl Cold.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ipcsl Cold 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ipcsl Cold 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.
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. Ipcsl Cold can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ipcsl Cold 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ipcsl Cold with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Ipcsl Cold 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. Ipcsl Cold can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Indraprastha Cold Storage Ltd: Value Added Strategy in an Emerging Market 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 Ipcsl Cold needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
