Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.A real estate developer decides whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal to develop a township on farmland. The decisions include whether to expand operations from the company's base in Kolkata to Bardhaman, 100 km away; whether to subdivide and sell raw land lots or follow the developer's vision and build a planned township; whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal, led by the Left Front and the Communist Party of India as equity partners; or whether to also accept a private equity firm into the project, what to build, and in what sequence.
Swot Analysis of "Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board" written by John D. Macomber, Viraal Balsari includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bengal Bardhaman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bengal Bardhaman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bengal Bardhaman
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bengal Bardhaman
Strengths Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bengal Bardhaman in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Bengal Bardhaman is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Bengal Bardhaman
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bengal Bardhaman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bengal Bardhaman digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bengal Bardhaman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bengal Bardhaman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bengal Bardhaman is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bengal Bardhaman is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bengal Bardhaman in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Bengal Bardhaman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bengal Bardhaman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Weaknesses Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bengal Bardhaman 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John D. Macomber, Viraal Balsari suggests that, Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bengal Bardhaman products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bengal Bardhaman needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bengal Bardhaman is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Bengal Bardhaman needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, is just above the industry average. Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bengal Bardhaman has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Bengal Bardhaman even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, in the dynamic environment Bengal Bardhaman has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bengal Bardhaman has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Bengal Bardhaman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bengal Bardhaman vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, it seems that the employees of Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Opportunities Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board | 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bengal Bardhaman in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bengal Bardhaman can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bengal Bardhaman operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bengal Bardhaman 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
– Bengal Bardhaman can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bengal Bardhaman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bengal Bardhaman to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bengal Bardhaman 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. Bengal Bardhaman 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.
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. Bengal Bardhaman can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bengal Bardhaman 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, Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bengal Bardhaman has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bengal Bardhaman needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bengal Bardhaman 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bengal Bardhaman 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.
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 Bengal Bardhaman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bengal Bardhaman 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.
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 Bengal Bardhaman in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bengal Bardhaman is facing in Finance & Accounting 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board, Bengal Bardhaman may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Increasing wage structure of Bengal Bardhaman
– 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 Bengal Bardhaman.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bengal Bardhaman 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board .
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. Bengal Bardhaman 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bengal Bardhaman in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board 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 Bengal Bardhaman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
