Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia
Examines the choice and implementation of a currency strategy for a telecommunications company operating in Russia with substantial exposure to the euro and U.S. dollar through various debt instruments. Asks students to assess the financial strategy and the appropriate financial reporting under the International Accounting Standards.
Authors :: Murray J. Bryant, Craig Dunbar, Konstantin Markov
Swot Analysis of "Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia" written by Murray J. Bryant, Craig Dunbar, Konstantin Markov includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Russia Mobitell facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Currency, Financial management, International business, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Russia Mobitell, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Russia Mobitell 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Russia Mobitell
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Russia Mobitell
Strengths Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Russia Mobitell in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Russia Mobitell has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Russia Mobitell 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Russia Mobitell 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 Finance & Accounting industry
– Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Russia Mobitell to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Russia Mobitell to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Russia Mobitell 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Russia Mobitell digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Russia Mobitell 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
– Russia Mobitell has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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.
Analytics focus
– Russia Mobitell 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 Murray J. Bryant, Craig Dunbar, Konstantin Markov 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.
Organizational Resilience of Russia Mobitell
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Russia Mobitell does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Russia Mobitell 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Russia Mobitell is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Russia Mobitell is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Russia Mobitell 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, Russia Mobitell 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. Russia Mobitell 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Russia Mobitell is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Russia Mobitell 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 - Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia, in the dynamic environment Russia Mobitell has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Russia Mobitell has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Russia Mobitell is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Russia Mobitell needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Russia Mobitell to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Russia Mobitell 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Russia Mobitell is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Russia Mobitell has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Russia Mobitell 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Opportunities Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia | 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Russia Mobitell to increase its market reach. Russia Mobitell will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Russia Mobitell 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Russia Mobitell 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 Russia Mobitell to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Russia Mobitell can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Russia Mobitell 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. Russia Mobitell 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Russia Mobitell 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.
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 Russia Mobitell in the consumer business. Now Russia Mobitell can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Russia Mobitell can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Russia Mobitell is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Russia Mobitell 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Russia Mobitell 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, Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Russia Mobitell can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Russia Mobitell 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.
Threats Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia are -
Environmental challenges
– Russia Mobitell 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. Russia Mobitell can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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 Russia Mobitell in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Russia Mobitell 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Russia Mobitell 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 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
– Russia Mobitell 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Russia Mobitell in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Russia Mobitell business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Russia Mobitell 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia .
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 Russia Mobitell.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Russia Mobitell is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Russia Mobitell has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Russia Mobitell needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Russia Mobitell can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Mobitell (A): Mobile Communications in Russia 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 Russia Mobitell needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.