Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative
In rural India, farmers historically had limited access to quality input items for both their fields and homes. Indian conglomerate DSCL has undertaken a Rural Business Initiative to address this issue, establishing a chain of retail outlets throughout rural India geared toward farmers and their families. Through its growing network of stores, DSCL is able to establish relationships with farmers and provide them with a host of agricultural services, including improved crop inputs, agronomic support, fuel, banking, and consumer goods. The outlets also buy back some of the farmers' production at harvest time. In utilizing the products and services offered by the stores, farmers are able to improve the quality of their crops and access a network of helpful resources in an environment that was once considered completely tangential to the benefits of agricultural research and technology reaped in other parts of the world. DSCL strategizes about how the company can also benefit from these freshly forged connections with India's rural millions.
Swot Analysis of "Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative" written by David E. Bell, Nitin Sanghavi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dscl Farmers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dscl Farmers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dscl Farmers 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dscl Farmers
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 Dscl Farmers
Strengths Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dscl Farmers in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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
– Dscl Farmers 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Dscl Farmers 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 David E. Bell, Nitin Sanghavi 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.
Learning organization
- Dscl Farmers 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 Dscl Farmers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dscl Farmers 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dscl Farmers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Dscl Farmers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dscl Farmers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dscl Farmers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dscl Farmers 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dscl Farmers 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dscl Farmers in the sector have low bargaining power. Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dscl Farmers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dscl Farmers 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
– Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dscl Farmers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dscl Farmers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Dscl Farmers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dscl Farmers 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative, in the dynamic environment Dscl Farmers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dscl Farmers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dscl Farmers 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. Dscl Farmers 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dscl Farmers 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dscl Farmers 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 - Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dscl Farmers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dscl Farmers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Dscl Farmers 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David E. Bell, Nitin Sanghavi suggests that, Dscl Farmers 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dscl Farmers 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative, it seems that the employees of Dscl Farmers 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.
Opportunities Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative | 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative are -
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 Dscl Farmers 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
– Dscl Farmers 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dscl Farmers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dscl Farmers 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, Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Dscl Farmers 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dscl Farmers 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Dscl Farmers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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.
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. Dscl Farmers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dscl Farmers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dscl Farmers 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 Dscl Farmers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dscl Farmers to increase its market reach. Dscl Farmers 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dscl Farmers 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dscl Farmers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Dscl Farmers 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.
Threats Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dscl Farmers is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Dscl Farmers
– 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 Dscl Farmers.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dscl Farmers 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.
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. Dscl Farmers 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dscl Farmers 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dscl Farmers 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.
Environmental challenges
– Dscl Farmers 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. Dscl Farmers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Dscl Farmers 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 Dscl Farmers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative, Dscl Farmers 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 .
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 Dscl Farmers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dscl Farmers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dscl Farmers 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative 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 Dscl Farmers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.