Impulsesoft - Music in the Air SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Impulsesoft - Music in the Air
"Impulsesoft Private Ltd (IS) is a Bangalore-based information technology company that was founded in 1999 by three software engineers. IS was engaged in developing Bluetooth (BT) middleware. The founding engineers had been working with Texas Instruments in Bangalore since 1995. After establishing their own company, the founders began looking for a chief executive officer (CEO) to run their business while they concentrated on technology and product development. At that time, the founders of IS were merely a set of aspiring entrepreneurs who were short on ideas, funds and clients but rich in aspirations; they quit their jobs in 1999 and set about undertaking contract software development projects in order to learn about building and selling IT products and to generate cash for their venture as well. The founders wanted to build a software product out of India targeting a global market. This desire was verbalized as an idea "to build a Sony or HP (Hewlett-Packard) out of India" and "to build a world-class products company." In its infancy, IS undertook different kinds of development projects for third parties and considered several other options until it discovered BT middleware as an area to focus on for various reasons. By 2004, IS had turned profitable; with 52 employees by 2005 and a branch office in Silicon Valley, Impulsesoft's BT software was in 50 per cent of all BT stereo headphones that were being shipped at the time. The market for BT-embedded accessories exploded but chip manufacturers began to incorporate BT features in their chips and gave the technology away for free, and the long-term outlook for IS deteriorated. There were also doubts about how scalable a technology licensing business model could be. At this juncture, the president and CEO of Impulsesoft received a proposal from John Lin, CEO of TEN Technology, a customer of IS and a US$20 million company, suggesting a merger of the two companies."
Swot Analysis of "Impulsesoft - Music in the Air" written by K. Balakrishnan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bt Impulsesoft facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Strategy, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Impulsesoft - Music in the Air casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Impulsesoft - Music in the Air
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bt Impulsesoft, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bt Impulsesoft 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bt Impulsesoft
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 Bt Impulsesoft
Strengths Impulsesoft - Music in the Air | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bt Impulsesoft in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Bt Impulsesoft is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bt Impulsesoft is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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
- Bt Impulsesoft 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 Bt Impulsesoft is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bt Impulsesoft in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bt Impulsesoft in the sector have low bargaining power. Impulsesoft - Music in the Air has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bt Impulsesoft to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bt Impulsesoft 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bt Impulsesoft has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bt Impulsesoft is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Impulsesoft - Music in the Air Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bt Impulsesoft digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bt Impulsesoft 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 Strategy & Execution industry
– Impulsesoft - Music in the Air firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bt Impulsesoft to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bt Impulsesoft to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Impulsesoft - Music in the Air | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Impulsesoft - Music in the Air are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bt Impulsesoft is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bt Impulsesoft 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. Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bt Impulsesoft has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Impulsesoft - Music in the Air should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, K. Balakrishnan suggests that, Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Impulsesoft - Music in the Air, it seems that the employees of Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bt Impulsesoft products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bt Impulsesoft needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bt Impulsesoft is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Impulsesoft - Music in the Air can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bt Impulsesoft is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Bt Impulsesoft needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bt Impulsesoft to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bt Impulsesoft, firm in the HBR case study Impulsesoft - Music in the Air needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bt Impulsesoft has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Opportunities Impulsesoft - Music in the Air | 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bt Impulsesoft 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, Bt Impulsesoft is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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
– Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bt Impulsesoft can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Buying journey improvements
– Bt Impulsesoft can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Impulsesoft - Music in the Air suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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 Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bt Impulsesoft can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bt Impulsesoft 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, Impulsesoft - Music in the Air, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Bt Impulsesoft in the consumer business. Now Bt Impulsesoft can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bt Impulsesoft to increase its market reach. Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Threats Impulsesoft - Music in the Air External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Impulsesoft - Music in the Air are -
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. Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bt Impulsesoft 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.
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. Bt Impulsesoft needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bt Impulsesoft 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bt Impulsesoft can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Bt Impulsesoft 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. Bt Impulsesoft can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bt Impulsesoft has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bt Impulsesoft 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 Bt Impulsesoft business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bt Impulsesoft with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Bt Impulsesoft
– 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 Bt Impulsesoft.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Impulsesoft - Music in the Air 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 Bt Impulsesoft needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.