Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?
Airtel mCommerce Services Limited was waiting for news from the Reserve Bank of India related to mobile banking regulations, as it was eager to unleash the massive potential and untapped opportunity in India regarding mobile commerce. Its service, Airtel Money, was struggling in India, but it had experienced a huge success in Africa. Though it had some initial success in India, it still had a long way to go to capture the Indian mobile market. Jayanthi Ranjan and Parijat Upadhyay are affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?" written by Jayanthi Ranjan, Parijat Upadhyay includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Airtel India facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Airtel India, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Airtel India 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Airtel India
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Airtel India
Strengths Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Airtel India in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Airtel India
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Airtel India 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Airtel India 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Airtel India is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Airtel India in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Airtel India has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Airtel India 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Airtel India in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Airtel India digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Airtel India 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Airtel India 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Airtel India is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Airtel India is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Airtel India is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?, is just above the industry average. Airtel India 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Airtel India 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 - Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?, it seems that the employees of Airtel India 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel India has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? HBR case study mentions - Airtel India 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jayanthi Ranjan, Parijat Upadhyay suggests that, Airtel India 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Airtel India is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?, in the dynamic environment Airtel India has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Airtel India has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Airtel India products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Airtel India needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Airtel India 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.
Opportunities Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? | 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Airtel India 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, Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Airtel India 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Airtel India can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Airtel India operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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 Airtel India 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.
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. Airtel India can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Airtel India in the consumer business. Now Airtel India can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Airtel India has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Airtel India to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? case study. Airtel India can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Airtel India 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Airtel India to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Airtel India 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Airtel India in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Airtel India can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Airtel India can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Airtel India 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.
Threats Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? are -
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 Airtel India business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Airtel India.
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 Airtel India in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Airtel India
– 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 Airtel India.
Regulatory challenges
– Airtel India 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Airtel India 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.
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. Airtel India 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Airtel India can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Airtel India needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Airtel India is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Airtel India 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.
Environmental challenges
– Airtel India 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. Airtel India can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Airtel India 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel Money: Can the African Success Be Replicated in India? 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 Airtel India needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
