Case Study Description of Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain
Adani Agri Logistics Limited (AALL) was established to execute a national project for the bulk handling of food grains through a public-private partnership with the Food Corporation of India. This project involved financing, planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining modern infrastructure for the bulk handling, storage and transportation of grains required for the public distribution system. Although a technology-driven supply chain solution was implemented, the benefits of this innovative supply system did not come into full fruition even after four years of operation. AALL soon realized that farmers were reluctant to accept the new storage system because it was a departure from the relationship-based transactions they were used to undertaking with traditional intermediaries. In this way, the company learned that there are cultural subtleties and traditions that must be appreciated and given consideration, along with the economic justifications. How could these traditions be respected and upheld while making way for improvement and progress? Author Mohita Gangwar is affiliated with FORE School of Management. Author K.N. Singh is affiliated with the Indian Institute of Management.
Swot Analysis of "Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain" written by Mohita Gangwar, K.N. Singh, Sachinder Mohan Sharma, Puneet Mehndiratta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aall Adani facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Operations management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aall Adani, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aall Adani
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 Aall Adani
Strengths Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aall Adani in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Aall Adani 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 Aall Adani digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aall Adani 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Aall Adani 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 Aall Adani in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Aall Adani in the sector have low bargaining power. Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aall Adani to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Aall Adani is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Aall Adani has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aall Adani 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 brand equity
– Aall Adani has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Aall Adani to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Aall Adani is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Aall Adani is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Aall Adani is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Aall Adani needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Aall Adani to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Aall Adani has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Aall Adani products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Aall Adani needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Aall Adani 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aall Adani is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aall Adani is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Aall Adani 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. Aall Adani 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mohita Gangwar, K.N. Singh, Sachinder Mohan Sharma, Puneet Mehndiratta suggests that, Aall Adani 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain, in the dynamic environment Aall Adani has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aall Adani has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aall Adani, firm in the HBR case study Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain | 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Aall Adani to increase its market reach. Aall Adani 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aall Adani is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aall Adani to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Aall Adani 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 Aall Adani to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Aall Adani can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Aall Adani can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Aall Adani 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, Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aall Adani 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Aall Adani 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. Aall Adani 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.
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 Aall Adani in the consumer business. Now Aall Adani can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Aall Adani 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Aall Adani can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Aall Adani has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aall Adani to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain case study. Aall Adani can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Aall Adani has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aall Adani needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
Environmental challenges
– Aall Adani 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. Aall Adani can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Aall Adani 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aall Adani is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Aall Adani needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Aall Adani with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Aall Adani business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aall Adani in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Aall Adani 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.
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 Aall Adani.
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. Aall Adani 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain, Aall Adani may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
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. Aall Adani 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Adani Agri Logistics Limited: Blocking the Grain Drain 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 Aall Adani needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
