VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor
VisionSpring enabled access to affordable eye care for low-income individuals suffering from vision impairment in developing economies. Established in the United States as a not-for-profit social enterprise, it sold more than two million pairs of eyeglasses globally, which included over one million pairs of eyeglasses sold in India. Despite achieving this scale, VisionSpring believed there was a long way to go considering the estimated 300 million people in India requiring eyeglasses for vision correction. Realizing this as a huge unmet opportunity, the company set a goal of achieving 10 times its annual sales volume in India. This was not an easy task considering the socio-economic dynamics of the base of the pyramid segment, as well as market challenges in peri-urban and rural India. The plan would require a total paradigm shift in the overall business model of VisionSpring in India. Sandeep Goyal is affiliated with Management Development Institute. Amit Kapoor is affiliated with Institute for Competitiveness.
Swot Analysis of "VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor" written by Sandeep Goyal, Amit Kapoor includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Visionspring Eyeglasses facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Visionspring Eyeglasses, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Visionspring Eyeglasses
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Visionspring Eyeglasses
Strengths VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Visionspring Eyeglasses in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Visionspring Eyeglasses digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Visionspring Eyeglasses has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Visionspring Eyeglasses to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Visionspring Eyeglasses has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Visionspring Eyeglasses is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Visionspring Eyeglasses is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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.
Analytics focus
– Visionspring Eyeglasses is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Sandeep Goyal, Amit Kapoor 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Visionspring Eyeglasses has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Visionspring Eyeglasses has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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.
Weaknesses VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Visionspring Eyeglasses is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Visionspring Eyeglasses needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Visionspring Eyeglasses to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Visionspring Eyeglasses is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Visionspring Eyeglasses, firm in the HBR case study VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Visionspring Eyeglasses supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Visionspring Eyeglasses vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor | 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Visionspring Eyeglasses can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Visionspring Eyeglasses to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Visionspring Eyeglasses to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Visionspring Eyeglasses has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Visionspring Eyeglasses to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor case study. Visionspring Eyeglasses can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Visionspring Eyeglasses can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Visionspring Eyeglasses to increase its market reach. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Visionspring Eyeglasses 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, VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Visionspring Eyeglasses to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Visionspring Eyeglasses in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Visionspring Eyeglasses 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, Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Threats VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Visionspring Eyeglasses in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Visionspring Eyeglasses has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Visionspring Eyeglasses needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Visionspring Eyeglasses business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor, Visionspring Eyeglasses may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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 Visionspring Eyeglasses in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Visionspring Eyeglasses is facing in Strategy & Execution 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. Visionspring Eyeglasses needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Visionspring Eyeglasses 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Visionspring Eyeglasses with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Visionspring Eyeglasses 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 VisionSpring in India: Enabling Affordable Eyeglasses for the Poor 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 Visionspring Eyeglasses needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
