Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population

The vice-president and managing director, Nokia India, must decide whether to do an all-India launch of Nokia's newest service offering for the emerging markets called Nokia Lifetools (NLT). The NLT pilot was very successful with consumer adoption and retention rates over 70 per cent, however, offering services and applications that come directly loaded onto a handset was new for Nokia and put them in direct competition with service providers, and required them to develop a very differently abled distribution strategy. It could not avoid these important stakeholders in the telecommunication value chain as they were also very important partners whose cooperation was key to Nokia's success. Successfully launching NLT in India could shift the telecommunications industry globally. The decision facing the vice-president is likely one of the most important business decisions he will make in his life.

Authors :: Ariff Kachra, M.B Sarkar, Madhok Sud Kirti

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population" written by Ariff Kachra, M.B Sarkar, Madhok Sud Kirti includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nlt Nokia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nlt Nokia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nlt Nokia 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nlt Nokia
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 Nlt Nokia

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Strengths Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Nlt Nokia in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Nlt Nokia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nlt Nokia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nlt Nokia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Nlt Nokia 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Nlt Nokia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Diverse revenue streams

– Nlt Nokia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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.

High brand equity

– Nlt Nokia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nlt Nokia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Strong track record of project management

– Nlt Nokia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Nlt Nokia 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.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Nlt Nokia 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 Nlt Nokia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nlt Nokia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nlt Nokia 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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.

Training and development

– Nlt Nokia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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.

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Weaknesses Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ariff Kachra, M.B Sarkar, Madhok Sud Kirti suggests that, Nlt Nokia 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population, 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Nlt Nokia products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nlt Nokia needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nlt Nokia is planning to shift buying processes online.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Nlt Nokia 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population HBR case study mentions - Nlt Nokia 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nlt Nokia has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Nlt Nokia even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population, in the dynamic environment Nlt Nokia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nlt Nokia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Nlt Nokia 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Nlt Nokia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Nlt Nokia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nlt Nokia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Nlt Nokia 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.

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Opportunities Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population | 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population are -

Manufacturing automation

– Nlt Nokia 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.

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 Nlt Nokia in the consumer business. Now Nlt Nokia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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 Nlt Nokia 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.

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. Nlt Nokia 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. Nlt Nokia 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nlt Nokia 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Nlt Nokia 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nlt Nokia to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nlt Nokia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nlt Nokia 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Nlt Nokia 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nlt Nokia 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 Nlt Nokia 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. Nlt Nokia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– Nlt Nokia 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nlt Nokia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nlt Nokia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.

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Threats Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population are -

Consumer confidence and its impact on Nlt Nokia 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.

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 Nlt Nokia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Nlt Nokia 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Nlt Nokia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nlt Nokia 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.

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 Nlt Nokia in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Environmental challenges

– Nlt Nokia 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. Nlt Nokia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

Regulatory challenges

– Nlt Nokia 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nlt Nokia 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. Nlt Nokia 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.

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.

Increasing wage structure of Nlt Nokia

– 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 Nlt Nokia.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population, Nlt Nokia 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 .

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. Nlt Nokia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nlt Nokia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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