Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community
"Being a Change Agent"is a three-part case series set in a rural district of Assam in India. It describes the efforts made by Kuladhar Saikia, Deputy Inspector General of Police in the early 2000s, to tackle witchcraft-related crimes that were prevalent in this isolated and economically backward part of the country.
Swot Analysis of "Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community" written by Vibha Gaba, Indira Pant, Phanish Puranam includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Agent Kuladhar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Leadership and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Agent Kuladhar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Agent Kuladhar 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Agent Kuladhar
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 Agent Kuladhar
Strengths Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Agent Kuladhar in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Agent Kuladhar is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Agent Kuladhar 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Agent Kuladhar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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
– Agent Kuladhar has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Agent Kuladhar to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Agent Kuladhar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Agent Kuladhar 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 Agent Kuladhar digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Agent Kuladhar 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.
Training and development
– Agent Kuladhar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Agent Kuladhar 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.
Learning organization
- Agent Kuladhar 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 Agent Kuladhar is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Agent Kuladhar 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Agent Kuladhar to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Agent Kuladhar to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Agent Kuladhar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Agent Kuladhar 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Agent Kuladhar is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Agent Kuladhar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Agent Kuladhar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Agent Kuladhar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Agent Kuladhar 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Agent Kuladhar 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. Agent Kuladhar 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Agent Kuladhar 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 - Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Agent Kuladhar 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Agent Kuladhar, firm in the HBR case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Agent Kuladhar is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community, is just above the industry average. Agent Kuladhar 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.
Opportunities Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community | 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Agent Kuladhar 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Agent Kuladhar to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Agent Kuladhar 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, Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community, 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 Agent Kuladhar 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Agent Kuladhar 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.
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 Agent Kuladhar in the consumer business. Now Agent Kuladhar can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Agent Kuladhar can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Agent Kuladhar can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Agent Kuladhar 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Agent Kuladhar 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Threats Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Agent Kuladhar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Agent Kuladhar 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.
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 Agent Kuladhar business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Agent Kuladhar needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Agent Kuladhar 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Agent Kuladhar in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Environmental challenges
– Agent Kuladhar 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. Agent Kuladhar can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Agent Kuladhar 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community, Agent Kuladhar 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 .
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 Agent Kuladhar.
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. Agent Kuladhar can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Agent Kuladhar in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Being a Change Agent (B): From Mob to Community 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 Agent Kuladhar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.