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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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 -

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.

Innovation driven organization

– Nlt Nokia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

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.

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.

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.

Learning organization

- Nlt Nokia 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 Nlt Nokia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Nlt Nokia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nlt Nokia 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.

Organizational Resilience of Nlt Nokia

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nlt Nokia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Analytics focus

– Nlt Nokia 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 Ariff Kachra, M.B Sarkar, Madhok Sud Kirti 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.

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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Nlt Nokia 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.

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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 -

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.

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.

Need for greater diversity

– Nlt Nokia 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Nlt Nokia 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.

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.

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.

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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population, it seems that the employees of Nlt Nokia 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Nlt Nokia has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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 Nlt Nokia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Nlt Nokia, firm in the HBR case study Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

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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 -

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.

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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Nlt Nokia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nlt Nokia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population case study. Nlt Nokia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Nlt Nokia can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.

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.

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. Nlt Nokia can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Nlt Nokia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population 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.

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.

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.

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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 -

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.

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.

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.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nlt Nokia 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Nlt Nokia is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nlt Nokia 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 Nokia Life Tools: A Strategic Innovation to Tap Into India's Rural and Newly Urban Population .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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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