Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers
In 2016, the owner of Sarda Farms, a dairy farm in western India, was preparing for a meeting with the company's senior management. Since the dairy's launch in 2011, its production processes had stabilized; however, the daily demand for its milk was projected to increase substantially in six months, from 15,000 litres to 25,000 litres. Because the farm was already operating at near capacity, the output and efficiencies of all processes were under scrutiny. Sarda Farms needed to improve its efficiencies to meet the increase in demand, and the owner needed to finalize his strategy for improvements with senior management in one week's time. Rajiv Misra is affiliated with XLRI-Xavier School of Management.
Swot Analysis of "Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers" written by Rajiv Misra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sarda Farms facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sarda Farms, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sarda Farms 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sarda Farms
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 Sarda Farms
Strengths Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sarda Farms in Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sarda Farms 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Sarda Farms
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sarda Farms does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sarda Farms in the sector have low bargaining power. Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sarda Farms to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sarda Farms 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sarda Farms 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sarda Farms in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sarda Farms is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sarda Farms is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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.
Analytics focus
– Sarda Farms 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 Rajiv Misra 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sarda Farms has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sarda Farms 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sarda Farms to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sarda Farms to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sarda Farms is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sarda Farms products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sarda Farms needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sarda Farms is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Sarda Farms supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sarda Farms vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rajiv Misra suggests that, Sarda Farms 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers HBR case study mentions - Sarda Farms 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers, is just above the industry average. Sarda Farms 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sarda Farms is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Sarda Farms needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sarda Farms to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sarda Farms 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 - Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers, it seems that the employees of Sarda Farms 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers | 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sarda Farms to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sarda Farms 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sarda Farms 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sarda Farms 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.
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. Sarda Farms 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. Sarda Farms 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sarda Farms is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sarda Farms has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sarda Farms to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers case study. Sarda Farms can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sarda Farms can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sarda Farms operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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. Sarda Farms can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sarda Farms to increase its market reach. Sarda Farms 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sarda Farms 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, Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers, 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
– Sarda Farms has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sarda Farms 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.
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 Sarda Farms in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sarda Farms is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Sarda Farms.
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.
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. Sarda Farms needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Sarda Farms can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sarda Farms 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sarda Farms 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers, Sarda Farms 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 .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sarda Farms with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sarda Farms 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms: From Cows to Consumers 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 Sarda Farms needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.