Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy
The general manager of an engineering solutions department at Robert Bosch Engineering India, a subsidiary of a major German supplier of automotive components, must expand his department from captive to non-captive (i.e., non-Bosch) business and grow rapidly. He believes that non-linear growth is feasible if he leverages competencies and talent built over the years within his division. He faces complex strategy execution challenges, including challenges related to funding, sales and marketing and the existing captive-oriented culture, in shifting from a captive to non-captive mode of business for growth. The automotive ecosystem, within India and abroad, is rapidly changing with its focus on high technology and offers opportunities while also posing threats. At the same time, senior management's expectations for the general manager are high. He must decide whether to focus more on the development of non-linear products/services or on captive jobs in order to meet his firm's revenue goal. He could also adopt a hybrid approach.
Swot Analysis of "Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy" written by Sonia Mehrotra, U. Srinivasa Rangan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Captive Bosch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Captive Bosch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Captive Bosch 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Captive Bosch
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 Captive Bosch
Strengths Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Captive Bosch in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Captive Bosch has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Captive Bosch is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Captive Bosch to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Captive Bosch to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Captive Bosch is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Sonia Mehrotra, U. Srinivasa Rangan can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Organizational Resilience of Captive Bosch
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Captive Bosch 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Captive Bosch digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Captive Bosch 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.
Learning organization
- Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Captive Bosch is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Captive Bosch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy, is just above the industry average. Captive Bosch 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Captive Bosch 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Captive Bosch products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Captive Bosch needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy HBR case study mentions - Captive Bosch 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Captive Bosch 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy, in the dynamic environment Captive Bosch has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Captive Bosch has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Captive Bosch has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Captive Bosch 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Captive Bosch is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Captive Bosch 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Captive Bosch 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.
Opportunities Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy | 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Captive Bosch 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, Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy, 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 Captive Bosch in the consumer business. Now Captive Bosch can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Captive Bosch 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. Captive Bosch can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Captive Bosch 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Captive Bosch can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Captive Bosch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Captive Bosch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy case study. Captive Bosch can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Captive Bosch 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. Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Captive Bosch 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, Captive Bosch can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Captive Bosch operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy are -
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. Captive Bosch can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch 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.
Environmental challenges
– Captive Bosch 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. Captive Bosch 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 Captive Bosch with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Captive Bosch 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.
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 Captive Bosch in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy, Captive Bosch 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Captive Bosch
– 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 Captive Bosch.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Captive Bosch 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy .
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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Captive Bosch 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Robert Bosch Engineering India: Plotting a Growth Strategy 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 Captive Bosch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.