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 - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, 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 -
Analytics focus
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Susmi Routray, Boishampayan Chatterjee, Gunjan Malhotra 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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Airtel Neutrality digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Airtel Neutrality 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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Learning organization
- Airtel Neutrality 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 Airtel Neutrality is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Airtel Neutrality to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Airtel Neutrality to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Airtel Neutrality
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Airtel Neutrality does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality?, is just above the industry average. Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Airtel Neutrality is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Airtel Neutrality is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Airtel Neutrality needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Airtel Neutrality 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 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Airtel Neutrality 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, 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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Airtel Neutrality 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.
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.
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 Airtel Neutrality in the consumer business. Now Airtel Neutrality can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Airtel Neutrality to increase its market reach. Airtel Neutrality 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Airtel Neutrality 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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. Airtel Neutrality 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.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Airtel Neutrality 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 Bharti Airtel's "Airtel Zero": Violation of Net Neutrality? .
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Airtel Neutrality
– 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 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 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
– Airtel Neutrality 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 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.