Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?
In April 2015, Bharti Airtel - India's largest telecom provider and a leading global telecommunications company - launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that would allow Airtel customers to access mobile applications with zero data charges. Application developers would pay Airtel to join the platform, but would in turn attract more users to their products. Immediately after its launch, Airtel Zero was subjected to severe criticism on the grounds that it violated the net neutrality principle, which advocated that content should be available to customers without any form of prioritization. Subsequently, in support of net neutrality, Flipkart - a prominent Indian e-commerce company - pulled out of the platform. Was Airtel Zero a potential threat to net neutrality? With the pending decision of the government of India on the regulatory framework for over-the-top (OTT) applications and services, would Airtel Zero stand out as a viable platform? Susmi Routray is affiliated with Institute of Management Techology - Ghaziabad. Gunjan Malhotra is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology.
Swot Analysis of "Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?" written by Susmi Routray, Boishampayan Chatterjee, Gunjan Malhotra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Airtel Neutrality facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Mobile and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Airtel Neutrality, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Airtel Neutrality
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 Airtel Neutrality
Strengths Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Airtel Neutrality in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Airtel Neutrality in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Airtel Neutrality has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Airtel Neutrality to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Airtel Neutrality are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Airtel Neutrality 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Airtel Neutrality is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Airtel Neutrality in the sector have low bargaining power. Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Airtel Neutrality to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Airtel Neutrality is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Airtel Neutrality in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Airtel Neutrality has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Airtel Neutrality 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.
Training and development
– Airtel Neutrality has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Airtel Neutrality 's lucrative customers.
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 Airtel Neutrality supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Airtel Neutrality vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Airtel Neutrality 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Airtel Neutrality is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, in the dynamic environment Airtel Neutrality has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Airtel Neutrality has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Airtel Neutrality 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, Susmi Routray, Boishampayan Chatterjee, Gunjan Malhotra suggests that, Airtel Neutrality 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Airtel Neutrality has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, it seems that the employees of Airtel Neutrality 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Airtel Neutrality 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? | 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Airtel Neutrality 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 Airtel Neutrality to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Airtel Neutrality can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Airtel Neutrality 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
– Airtel Neutrality 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Airtel Neutrality 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, Airtel Neutrality is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Airtel Neutrality 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, Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Airtel Neutrality 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Airtel Neutrality 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Airtel Neutrality has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Airtel Neutrality to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? case study. Airtel Neutrality can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Airtel Neutrality 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.
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. Airtel Neutrality can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? are -
Regulatory challenges
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Airtel Neutrality business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Airtel Neutrality.
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. Airtel Neutrality needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Airtel Neutrality has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Airtel Neutrality 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Airtel Neutrality 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, Airtel Neutrality 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Airtel Neutrality 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. Airtel Neutrality can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Airtel Neutrality with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Airtel Neutrality in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Airtel Neutrality needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
