Case Study Description of Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability
Sudarshan Chemicals Industries is a top player in the Indian chemicals industry. This case traces the remodelling of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, both along scientific lines and aligned to its core business strategy. Faced with an informal and unstructured CSR initiative, the company uses an innovative method of problem-solving - crowd-sourcing ideas from a top business school in India. A team of students assesses the situation completely in order to make recommendations to the company's top managers. The case details a process of scientific value-creation in CSR that can be adopted by companies as they make the transition from local to global.
Swot Analysis of "Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability" written by Tulsi Jayakumar, Nilotpal Ray, Divya Mulanjar, Debopam Basu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sudarshan Csr facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sudarshan Csr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sudarshan Csr
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 Sudarshan Csr
Strengths Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sudarshan Csr in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sudarshan Csr digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sudarshan Csr 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
– Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sudarshan Csr to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sudarshan Csr to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Sudarshan Csr has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sudarshan Csr to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Sudarshan Csr
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sudarshan Csr does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sudarshan Csr 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.
Training and development
– Sudarshan Csr has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sudarshan Csr is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sudarshan Csr in the sector have low bargaining power. Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sudarshan Csr to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Sudarshan Csr is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sudarshan Csr in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, is just above the industry average. Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sudarshan Csr is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Sudarshan Csr needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sudarshan Csr to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, in the dynamic environment Sudarshan Csr has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sudarshan Csr 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, Sudarshan Csr 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sudarshan Csr 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.
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 Sudarshan Csr supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sudarshan Csr vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sudarshan Csr, firm in the HBR case study Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sudarshan Csr 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Sudarshan Csr 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability HBR case study mentions - Sudarshan Csr takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Opportunities Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability | 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability are -
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. Sudarshan Csr 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. Sudarshan Csr 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Csr to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Sudarshan Csr can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sudarshan Csr is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sudarshan Csr 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Sudarshan Csr can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sudarshan Csr 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sudarshan Csr can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sudarshan Csr to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sudarshan Csr 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, Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sudarshan Csr 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.
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. Sudarshan Csr 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
– Sudarshan Csr has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability are -
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 Sudarshan Csr in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sudarshan Csr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sudarshan Csr 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sudarshan Csr 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sudarshan Csr
– 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 Sudarshan Csr.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sudarshan Csr with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Sudarshan Csr.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sudarshan Csr 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sudarshan Csr 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.
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. Sudarshan Csr 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.
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 Sudarshan Csr business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sudarshan Csr 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability, Sudarshan Csr 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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 Sudarshan Chemicals India: Crowd-sourcing for Corporate Sustainability 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 Sudarshan Csr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.