Case Study Description of SREI Sahaj e-Village (B)
Sahaj e-Village Limited, an initiative of SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd, hoped to answer the need of the Indian government's National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to set up 100,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) across rural India in 2006. This figure was subsequently revised to 250,000 CSCs in 2009. Sahaj aimed to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural India and set up one of the largest brick and mortar --and human --networks in rural India. With close to 27,000 IT-backed centers in villages with a population of less than 10,000 and 50 critical services in the domains of microinsurance, education, utility and government-to-citizen (G2C) services to over 300,000,000 rural people, Sahaj e-Village was literally taking urban services to the remotest nooks of rural India. Sahaj CSCs would provide rural consumers with direct access to modern, state-of-the-art technological facilities and computer education, thus dovetailing with its long-term plans of providing Internet connectivity across rural India. Case B moves ahead from the challenge described in Case A and outlines Sahaj's transformation process. Starting August 2010, Sahaj guided its troops through an ideological transformation that would take the organization from being primarily a government service provider to an enterprising business entity capable of fending for itself. In order to achieve this goal, Sahaj took the important first step of understanding the intricacies and dynamics of the relationships among the various stakeholders involved in the project. This, in a sense, proved to be a breakthrough in the organization's transformation process.
Swot Analysis of "SREI Sahaj e-Village (B)" written by Rajesh Chakrabarti, Digvijay Singh Sujlana includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sahaj Rural facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SREI Sahaj e-Village (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sahaj Rural, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sahaj Rural 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sahaj Rural
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 Sahaj Rural
Strengths SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sahaj Rural in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Sahaj Rural
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sahaj Rural does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Sahaj Rural 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 Sahaj Rural is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sahaj Rural 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Sahaj Rural 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 Sahaj Rural in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sahaj Rural 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Sahaj Rural is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sahaj Rural has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sahaj Rural 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sahaj Rural digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sahaj Rural 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sahaj Rural in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Sahaj Rural 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 Rajesh Chakrabarti, Digvijay Singh Sujlana 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sahaj Rural to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sahaj Rural to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sahaj Rural 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.
Weaknesses SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sahaj Rural 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sahaj Rural 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.
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 Sahaj Rural supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sahaj Rural vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sahaj Rural is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Sahaj Rural needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sahaj Rural to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sahaj Rural 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
– Sahaj Rural 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rajesh Chakrabarti, Digvijay Singh Sujlana suggests that, Sahaj Rural 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), is just above the industry average. Sahaj Rural 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sahaj Rural is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), it seems that the employees of Sahaj Rural don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) | 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sahaj Rural has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sahaj Rural to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) case study. Sahaj Rural can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sahaj Rural 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sahaj Rural 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sahaj Rural to increase its market reach. Sahaj Rural 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.
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 Sahaj Rural 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 Sahaj Rural 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.
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. Sahaj Rural can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sahaj Rural 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, SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sahaj Rural can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Sahaj Rural can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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.
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. Sahaj Rural 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. Sahaj Rural 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 Sahaj Rural 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 Sahaj Rural to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Sahaj Rural can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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. Sahaj Rural can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Sahaj Rural.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study SREI Sahaj e-Village (B), Sahaj Rural 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sahaj Rural with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sahaj Rural 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sahaj Rural is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sahaj Rural 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
– Sahaj Rural 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.
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 Sahaj Rural business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sahaj Rural 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sahaj Rural
– 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 Sahaj Rural.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sahaj Rural 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 SREI Sahaj e-Village (B) 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 Sahaj Rural needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
